The 2025 Caroline Herschel Medal winner Professor Isobel Hook received her award at a special ceremony at the German Embassy in London last week.
Described as a "pioneering" leader in the study of distant supernovae, the Lancaster University astrophysicist was recognised for her outstanding contributions to her field and her "profound impact on astronomy".
She was awarded the medal by Professor Mike Lockwood, President of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS), German Ambassador to the UK Miguel Berger and Professor Dr Michael Kramer, of the German Astronomical Society (Astronomische Gesellschaft, AG), who represented AG at the ceremony because current president Professor Stefanie Walch-Gassner was unwell.
The Caroline Herschel Medal celebrates "exceptional" women astrophysicists in the UK and Germany.
It commemorates the legacy of Caroline Herschel, a distinguished astronomer working in the late 18th and the first half of the 19th century who made a number of groundbreaking discoveries, including several comets.
The medal is jointly awarded by the RAS and AG and includes an accompanying prize of £10,000 supported by the UK Government.
Professor Hook said: "I am particularly thrilled to receive this award because of what it stands for about the cooperation between Germany and the UK, but also international cooperation generally.
"Pretty much everything I've worked on has involved some sort of international cooperation at some stage, and is almost completely reliant on that now, particularly as we try and investigate the really large questions in the universe."
She also thanked Ambassador Berger for hosting the "special" event on Thursday 13 March and said it was an honour to have her family in attendance.
Professor Lockwood told the audience: "It is my pleasure to tell you about Professor Isobel Hook, of Lancaster University, who in Germany would be Professor Dr Isobel Hook.
"To be honest, I rather prefer the German naming method – it reminds young scientists (and indeed ourselves!) that we were once young PhD students like them working hard to build a career in science.
"It means they can aspire to becoming a world-renowned, prize-winning scientist like Isobel."
Mr Berger congratulated Professor Hook for her "outstanding contribution to the field of astrophysics, both through research and leadership."
He said her research on the measuring of dark energy, study of distant supernovae and the accelerating expansion of the universe focused on "some of the fascinating scientific challenges of our time" and the "big questions of interest to both experts and the broader public."
Professor Hook followed the medal awarding ceremony by giving a talk on supernovae and their role in the search for mysterious dark energy.
The Caroline Herschel Medal honours the longstanding scientific cooperation between Germany and the UK, having been launched in 2021 to celebrate outstanding research by women astrophysicists in the two countries.
It is given out in alternate years to researchers based in the UK and Germany. Past recipients include Dr Linda Tacconi, Professor Gillian Wright and Professor Eva Grebel.
Born in Hanover in Germany, Caroline Herschel moved to the UK with her brother William, who was the first president of the RAS in 1820.
Not only was Caroline the first woman in Britain to receive a royal pension for astronomy, in 1828 she became the first woman to win the RAS Gold Medal, awarded in recognition of her discovery of eight comets and her work refining and updating star catalogues.
Professor Hook was described by the award panel as a "visionary" in the development of next-generation astronomical facilities, particularly the future Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).
"Her work epitomises the spirit of discovery and excellence celebrated by the Caroline Herschel Medal, honouring her profound impact on astronomy and her enduring legacy in the scientific community," they added.
Professor Hook's involvement with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) has enhanced our ability to probe the faintest and most distant cosmic phenomena, while her contributions to 4MOST, Euclid and the Rubin Observatory advance large-scale surveys of dark energy and galaxy evolution.
The award panel added that as leader of the Lancaster Astrophysics group, Professor Hook also "inspires the next generation of astronomers and fosters global scientific collaboration."
ENDS
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