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Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize 2020 is awarded to Alexander Szalay, Isabelle Baraffe and Adam Burrows, Byurakan Observatory reports.

Viktor Ambartsumian International Science Prize is one of the important awards in Astronomy/Astrophysics and related sciences. It is being awarded to outstanding scientists from any country and nationality having significant contribution in science. The prize is being awarded since 2010 once every two years. In 2010-2016 the prize totaled $500,000, which was set by the Republic of Armenia government. Since 2018 the prize totals $300,000. The prize includes laureate honorary diploma, medal with certifying document, $200,000 equivalent cash award and $100,000 equivalent for further development of Astronomy/Astrophysics as well as related fields of Physics and Mathematics in Armenia, for the next two years after the prize award. This money should be used as follows: $50,000 for research projects, $25,000 for Armenian scientists’ foreign fellowships, $15,000 for organizing scientific meetings and schools in Armenia, $7,200 for scholoarships of M.Sc. students studying at state universities, and $2,800 for astronomy outreach projects.

The International Steering Committee (ISC) consists of 9 outstanding scientists: Prof. Radik Martirosyan (President of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences, Armenia, ISC Chair), Prof. Xavier Barcons (Germany), Prof. Jocelyn Bell Burnell (UK), Prof. Anatol Cherepashchuk (Russia), Prof. Michel Mayor (Switzerland), Prof. Vahe Petrosian (USA), Prof. Brian Schmidt (Australia), Prof. Joseph Silk (UK) and Prof. Ewine Van Dishoeck.

April 18 was the deadline for nominations, and ISC received nominations from national academies of sciences, universities, and observatories for 8 outstanding scientists and groups from different countries. After a thorough study of the nominated works, as well as independent referees’ reports, the Committee had several discussions and finally it was decided to award the half of the Prize to Prof. Alexander Szalay, and the other half to share between Prof. Isabelle Baraffe and Prof. Adam Burrows.

Prof. Alexander Szalay (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA), nominated by Prof. Adam Riess, Nobel Prize Winner, “for his pioneering work on demonstrating that the Dark Matter in the Universe might be a neutral, weakly interacting particle and for his contributions to data-driven, statistical cosmology”.

Prof. Isabelle Baraffe (University of Exeter, UK, and CRAL/ENS de Lyon, CNRS, France), nominated by University of Exeter, “for her fundamental contributions to the field of low mass stars, brown dwarfs and exoplanets, and for innovative ideas in the domains of asteroseismology and compact binaries”.

Prof. Adam Burrows (Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University, USA), nominated by Princeton University, “for his seminal and pioneering contributions to the theories of brown dwarfs and exoplanets and for his leadership role in educating a generation of scientists at the frontiers of brown dwarf and exoplanet research”.

The official award ceremony will take place on September 18, 2020.