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The British Astronomer Royal won the Wolff Prize in Physics

The Wolf Prize in Physics for 2024 is awarded to Professor Martin Rees of the University of Cambridge, England, for his "pioneering contributions to high-energy astrophysics, the creation of galaxies and structures in the universe, and cosmology"

Prof. Martin Rees, winner of the 2024 Wolf Prize in Physics. Photo courtesy of the Wolf Prize Foundation
Prof. Martin Rees, winner of the 2024 Wolf Prize in Physics. Photo courtesy of the Wolf Prize Foundation

Martin Rees

The 2024 Wolf Prize in Physics is awarded to Professor Martin Rees

"For his pioneering contributions to high-energy astrophysics, the creation of galaxies and structures in the universe, and cosmology."

Lord Martin Rees Martin Lord (born in England in 1942) is one of the most well-known theoretical physicists of our time who has made many groundbreaking scientific contributions in the field of astrophysics, starting from cosmology and the processes of creating stars and galaxies in the early universe, to basic processes in the field of high-energy astrophysics, The creation and evolution of massive black holes at the centers of galaxies, and the way stars move and decay in the vicinity of such black holes. These contributions shaped the picture of the universe in which we live.

As a young student and researcher with a broad background in mathematics, Rees showed great interest in the field of astrophysics which, in those years, was one of the most developing fields of science and yielded a wealth of new phenomena and observations, most of which still awaited explanation. His first job as a professor at the University of Sussex in England in 1973 led Rees later to the Astronomical Institute in Cambridge where he held the prestigious post of Philomian Professor of Astronomy and Philosophy, and was the Director of the Institute and the Master of Trinity College.' Rees was later admitted as a Fellow of the Royal Society (British Academy of Sciences) and served as its President for a decade. In 2005 Rees was admitted to the British House of Lords and since 1995 he has been the holder of the honorary title "Astronomer Royal of the United Kingdom".

V Representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years. The far left shows the earliest moment we can study today, when a period of "inflation" created a burst of exponential growth in the universe. (The size is shown by the vertical proportion of the grid in this drawing). Over the next billion years the expansion of the universe gradually slowed down as the matter in the universe was pulled towards itself by gravity. Recently the expansion began to accelerate again as the repulsive effects of dark energy became dominant in the expansion of the universe. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
A representation of the evolution of the universe over 13.77 billion years. The far left shows the earliest moment we can study today, when a period of "inflation" created a burst of exponential growth in the universe. (The size is shown by the vertical proportion of the grid in this drawing). Over the next billion years the expansion of the universe gradually slowed down as the matter in the universe was pulled towards itself by gravity. Recently the expansion began to accelerate again as the repulsive effects of dark energy became dominant in the expansion of the universe. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The works and discoveries of Martin Rees have largely shaped the understanding of the universe in which we live. In the field of cosmology, he is known as the first to propose polarization measurements of the cosmic background radiation as a central instrument for deciphering the source of the spatial fluctuations of this radiation, and as a key to understanding fundamental processes in the early universe. He was also one of the fathers of the field known today as the cosmology of 21 cm radiation from neutral hydrogen atoms - a central tool for understanding the universe in the period that preceded the creation of the first stars. Other works of Rees related to the young universe concern the creation processes of the first stars and the first galaxies. Rees worked and published extensively in the field of high energy astrophysics. He studied and explained cosmic gamma ray bursts caused by neutron star mergers and supernova explosions. He also proposed unique mechanisms to explain the phenomenon of relativistic gas jets observed in giant radio galaxies. His theoretical works were later confirmed by modern radio observatories and space telescopes in the field of gamma radiation. Another major area in which Rees has been engaged for many years is the theoretical study of massive black holes in the centers of galaxies. He proposed various mechanisms for the creation of such black holes, for their growth and evolution over time, and the way in which this evolution affects the evolution of the galaxies in which they reside. His various predictions were observed and confirmed by means of huge advanced telescopes on the ground and in space. Other processes that Rees studied and explained are the collisions and mergers of black holes and the tearing and destruction of individual stars due to tidal forces in the vicinity of massive black holes.

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