Professor John Barrow (Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics) has been awarded the Gold Medal in astronomy in the Royal Astronomical Society's 2016 awards, medals and prizes.
The Society's highest honour is its Gold Medal, which can be awarded for any reason but usually recognises lifetime achievement. Past winners include Albert Einstein, Edwin Hubble, Arthur Eddington and Stephen Hawking. It was first awarded in 1824; since 1964 two have been awarded each year: one for astronomy, and one for geophysics.
Professor Barrow receives the award in recognition of his work as a world-renowned theoretical cosmologist. He has authored more than 500 scientific papers over the last 35 years, ranging widely over topics such as cosmology, the synthesis of the elements in the early Universe, the origin of cosmic magnetic fields, limits on the time variation of physical constants, and extensions of General Relativity.
Professor Barrow has been indefatigable in his passion to demonstrate the importance of science within the general culture of mankind. He is known to a wide public through his popular, beautifully written and authoritative books - over twenty of them - on astronomy, mathematics and physics. ‘The Anthropic Cosmological Principle’, co-authored with Frank Tipler, is an acknowledged classic, and shows his concern for philosophical issues.
He is the only person since 1642 to be elected to two different Gresham Professorships, in his case those in Astronomy and Geometry. Since 1999, Professor Barrow has successfully led the Mathematics Millennium project, dedicated to the task - important for all sciences - of strengthening the teaching of mathematics in primary and secondary schools. He has been an extraordinary ambassador for science and mathematics, while maintaining a lifetime’s work investigating novel and stimulating ideas in cosmology.
Professor Martin Barstow, President of the Royal Astronomical Society, offered his congratulations:
“The UK and indeed the whole world have a wealth of extraordinarily talented women and men working in astronomy and geophysics. Each year the Society marks their achievements with our awards and medals, something it gives me huge pleasure to announce. I am delighted to congratulate all the winners and wish them continued success in their scientific careers.”
The Society also awards a number of other medals and prizes; for more information on the awards and the achievements of the winners, see the full citation lists:
