Charlotte Mason receives the L'Oréal-UNESCO's For Women in Science Award

Congratulations to Charlotte Mason who has just been awarded the 2023 prize of L'Oréal-UNESCO's For Women in Science.

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The Danish For Women in Science prizes were launched in 2007 by L’Oréal in Denmark in partnership with the Danish national commission for UNESCO and the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters. The purpose of the program is to put a spotlight on promising women in science as role models to inspire more excellent women to have a career in science and to promote equality in Danish research.

This year, the award went to Charlotte Mason, associate professor at DAWN, as well as to Sophia Yakoubov, ass. prof in cryptography at Aarhus University and Fatima AlZahra’a Alatraktchi, ass. prof. at Roskilde University.

The first stars and galaxies

Charlotte Mason's science focuses on the early Universe and the advent of the first luminous sources. How and when did galaxies form from the primordial soup of atomic hydrogen and helium to produce the diversity we see today?

Theoretical models predict that they formed around 100 million years after the Big Bang, creating all elements heavier than helium. But until now we have not been able to see these earliest galaxies, and hence do not have any concrete evidence.

In the last few months, the James Webb Space Telescope has expanded our observational horizon to the first few hundred million years after the Big Bang, and early results have challenged our theoretical models of how stars and galaxies formed. Charlotte Mason's research lies at the intersection of theoretical modelling and observations, and aims to analyze and interpret these data to understand the properties of the first generations of stars and how they set the stage for the subsequent evolution of our Universe.

Public lectures

All three awardees will give short public lectures on their research (in English). The event will take place at the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters ("Videnskabernes Selskab") on Thursday 4 May, at 19:00–21:00.

Attendance is free, but you must sign up here.

More information

 

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