The Shaw Prize Foundation has announced that it will hold the award ceremony for this year’s Shaw Prize in a virtual format on 28 October 2021 at 18:00 HKT. The event will honour all the 2021 Shaw Laureates, who were announced in June this year. The winners of the prize in the astronomy category are Victoria M. Kaspi and Chryssa Kouveliotou, for their contributions to our understanding of magnetars — a class of highly magnetised neutron stars that are linked to a wide range of spectacular, transient astrophysical phenomena.

The ceremony will be held on the foundation’s online platforms for the second time due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and will be livestreamed on its website, Facebook page and YouTube channel. All are invited to join the event and celebrate the exceptional achievements of the 2021 Shaw Laureates. More details can be found in the ceremony programme.

Promoting scientific excellence is a key aim of both the Shaw Prize and the IAU. Since 2019, the two organisations have been working together towards this shared goal, through activities such as the annual Shaw-IAU Workshop on Astronomy for Education.

In addition to astronomy, the Shaw Prize is awarded in two other categories: Life Science & Medicine and Mathematical Sciences. The winner of the 2021 prize for Life Science & Medicine is Scott D Emr for the discovery of the ESCRT (Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport) pathway, which is an essential component of many cellular processes. The joint winners of the 2021 prize for Mathematical Sciences are Jean-Michel Bismut and Jeff Cheeger, for their transformative insights into modern geometry.

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The IAU is the international astronomical organisation that brings together more than 12 000 active professional astronomers from more than 100 countries worldwide. Its mission is to promote and safeguard astronomy in all its aspects, including research, communication, education and development, through international cooperation. The IAU also serves as the internationally recognised authority for assigning designations to celestial bodies and the surface features on them. Founded in 1919, the IAU is the world's largest professional body for astronomers.

Contacts

Lars Lindberg Christensen
IAU Press Officer
Cell: +1 520 461 0433
Email: lars.christensen@noirlab.edu