Professors P. James E. Peebles and Barry C. Barish became the first ever recipients of the Copernican Prizes. “This distinction in the field of science, is the realisation of the concept of appreciating the achievements of the most excellent researchers whose work expands the boundaries of human cognition,” stressed Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose letter was read out during the gala at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. Minister of Education and Science Przemysław Czarnek also spoke at the ceremony.
On Tuesday 20 June, the first ever Copernican Awards were presented at the Royal Castle. The award, given by the Presidium of the Copernican Academy, is a form of recognition for the achievements of researchers who push the boundaries of previous knowledge of mankind.
The first prize winners were astronomer and cosmologist Prof. P. James E. Peebles and physicist Prof. Barry C. Barish.
The event can be streamed on our website.
Minister Czarnek: In just a few months, a lot has happened at the Academy and the Nicolaus Copernicus School
The ceremony at the Royal Castle was attended by, among others, the Minister of Education and Science, Przemysław Czarnek, and the Secretary of State, Government Plenipotentiary for the Development and Internationalisation of Education and Science, Tomasz Rzymkowski.
– We are still in the Year of Copernicus and one of the very important moments of this year is today’s celebration – said the head of the Ministry of Education. – On 19 February we established, by the decision of President Andrzej Duda, the Copernicus Academy and since then – in just a few months – a lot has happened at the Academy and the Nicolaus Copernicus University. Colleges of economics, management, medicine have been established – more colleges are waiting to be established. It is the work of a whole group of people, a work that has a great chance, in the next 20 years of the Copernican programme, to raise European and world science to new heights,’ emphasised Przemysław Czarnek.
The Minister also thanked the laureates for accepting the award and for their presence at the Royal Castle in Warsaw. – There are some awards which are a great honour for the laureates, but there are also some laureates who are an honour for the award and for those who establish and pass it on. I am convinced that today we are dealing with two of these situations at the same time,’ explained the head of the Ministry of Education.
Letter from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
A letter from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was also read out during the gala, who also congratulated the laureates and praised the activities of the Copernican Academy.
“The Copernican Awards, our country’s newest distinction in the field of science, are the realisation of the concept of appreciating the achievements of the most outstanding researchers whose work expands the boundaries of human cognition,” explained the head of government in a letter addressed to the gala participants and the laureates themselves.
As Prime Minister Morawiecki further emphasised, the award is also a way of recognising individuals who have made a special contribution to enriching the wonderful achievements of the human mind. “It is also a form of building the prestige of the institution. The Copernicus Academy, this new centre in the Polish system, has great potential and all the possibilities to become an international corporation that creates a platform for cooperation between scientists of many nations and diverse specialisations,” – added the head of government.
Exceptional award for exceptional researchers
The Copernican Prizes are awarded for outstanding scientific achievements of groundbreaking importance and international scope. The award – in the form of an individual cash prize of PLN 500,000 – was presented for the first time this year.
The Academy awards a maximum of two such awards in any one year, and this is what happened this year when the awardees were Professor P. James E. Peebles and Professor Barry C. Barish.
Born in Canada in 1935, Canadian astronomer and cosmologist Professor Phillip James Edwin received his doctorate from Princeton University, where he continued his scientific career in the following years. He is the creator of many significant scientific discoveries in astronomy in particular relating to the explanation of the Big Bang theory, as well as considerations in the area of ‘black matter’ and ‘black energy’. He is also the creator of many concepts that formed the ideological framework for the scientific pursuits of many scientists. His inspirational role in this field, is widely recognised among astronomers worldwide.Awards
He was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize for his achievements, in recognition of his theoretical discoveries in the area of cosmology. He has also received many other prestigious awards and honours and is a member of the Americen Academy of Sciences and Arts and the National Academy of Sciences.
The second laureate of the Prize, physicist Prof. Barry C. Barish was born in the United States in 1936, the child of Jewish immigrants from Poland. He obtained his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley, and was subsequently associated with CALTECH in Pasadena. He is an experimental physicist, working mainly on high energies and gravitational waves. He played a pioneering role in underground experimental research in the Gran Sasso cave in Italy and directed the research of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). He is also the founder of the LIGO – Scientific Collaboration – a group of international physical institutes and research groups dedicated to the search for gravitational waves, which now has more than 1,000 collaborators worldwide focused on conducting scientific research.
Together with Kip Thorne and Rainer Weiss, he is a 2017 Nobel Prize winner in Physics for his decisive contribution to the LIGO detector and the observation of gravitational waves. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the US National Academy of Sciences, among others, and winner of the 2016 Enrico Fermi Prize.