The Royal Astronomical Society congratulates Lord Rees of Ludlow, who has been awarded the Royal Society Copley Medal, and Professor Michele Dougherty of Imperial College London, who has won the Bakerian Medal and Lecture.
The Copley Medal was first awarded in 1731 and recognises sustained, outstanding achievements in any field of science. Lord Rees receives the Medal in honour of his conceptual breakthroughs in astrophysics over decades, work with influence far beyond his immediate scientific peers.
Professor Dougherty receives her prize in recognition of her scientific leadership on the magnetic field instrument on the Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons, her contribution to the discovery of water on the saturnian moon Enceladus, and her recent leadership of missions set to explore Jupiter’s icy moons.
Professor Mike Edmunds, the President of the Royal Astronomical Society said:
“I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to both winners. The Astronomer Royal, Lord Rees is without doubt one of the leading astronomers in the world and has made an enormous contribution to our science since the mid 1960s. Professor Dougherty’s work on Saturn and now Jupiter’s moons is at the cutting edge of planetary science, and is a major contribution to the study of our own planetary system, with implications for the nature of exoplanets in systems elsewhere, a key question in contemporary science.”
Full list of Royal Society medal, award and prize winners