The CNRS 2020 gold medal, one of the most prestigious French scientific awards, was awarded this Thursday, September 10 to the astrophysicist Françoise Combes, a specialist in the dynamics of galaxies who made it possible to understand their growth through the history of the Universe.
Aged 68, Françoise Combes is now a professor at the Collège de France and continues her research at the Laboratory of Radiation and Matter Studies in Astrophysics and Atmospheres of the Paris-PSL Observatory.
Study on the formation and evolution of galaxies
His research focuses on “The formation and evolution of galaxies, from their dynamics to their structure, as well as the interactions between them, through direct observations but also numerical simulations”, explains the National Center for Scientific Research in a press release.
Its work has thus enabled “Decode the different stages of the growth of galaxies throughout the history of the Universe”. Françoise Combes also showed that super-massive black holes lodged in the heart of galaxies slowed down the formation of stars within them.
“Its influence extends beyond its disciplinary field”
The researcher pioneered a technique for observing distant quasars to detect very small quantities of matter at very large distances. As she explained, “Quasars are galaxies in which there is a supermassive black hole, which is very very active, and which emits a light a thousand times stronger than the whole galaxy combined”. She compares them to “Milestones, beacons of the Universe”, dont l’observation “Allows to probe matter”.
The CEO of CNRS, Antoine Petit, welcomed “An undisputed scientific authority in extragalactic physics at the world level”. “His influence extends beyond his disciplinary field to any astronomy. It is an exceptional scientific career and a remarkable influence that the CNRS wishes to honor by awarding him the 2020 gold medal ”.
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