Thibault Damour is awarded the 2021 Balzan Prize#
The Academia Europaea is pleased to report that our member Professor Thibault Damour, Permanent professor since 1989 of Theoretical Physics at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques, Bures-sur-Yvette and a member of the Section of Physics and Engineering Sciences has as been awarded (together with Prof. Dr. Alessandra Buonanno) a 2021 BALZAN PRIZE
for his outstanding contribution in the field of prediction of the gravitational wave signals produced when compact objects like neutron stars and black holes spiral together and eventually merge.
The prize acknowledges “their leadership in the prediction of the gravitational wave signals produced when compact objects like neutron stars and black holes spiral together and eventually merge. Their work was instrumental in the detection of gravitational waves, providing an extremely accurate confirmation of General Relativity as the theory of gravitation, and allowing the LIGO and Virgo detector complex to promote a type of astronomy which uses gravitational waves as new, powerful messengers of the universe.”
About the Balzan Prize#
The Balzan Prize’s aim is to foster culture, the sciences and the most meritorious initiatives in the cause of humanity, peace and fraternity among peoples throughout the world.
The Prizes are awarded in the subject areas:
- literature, moral sciences, and the arts;
- physical, mathematical and natural sciences and medicine;
- humanities, peace and fraternity among peoples.
The four subject areas, two in literature, the moral sciences and the arts, and two in the physical, mathematical and natural sciences and medicine, change every year. No more than four prizes may be awarded in any one year.
As stipulated in the Articles of the Foundation, the frequency of the special Prize for Humanity, Peace and Fraternity among Peoples is normally at intervals of no less than three years.
