The Michelson Interferometry Prize

The Michelson and Fizeau Prizes are two prizes in Astronomical Interferometry, sponsored by the Lowell Observatory and the Observatoire de la Cote 'Azur (OCA). The two prizes are similar but complementary, with the Michelson Prize emphasizing application of interferometry to astrophysical research, and the Fizeau Prize emphasizing innovative technical and theoretical work. The Prizes were first created in 2010 by the then-IAU Commission 54 for Optical and Infrared Interferometry, OCA, and the Mt. Wilson Institute (MWI). In 2018 Lowell Observatory took over stewardship of the Michelson Prize.

Description of the Michelson Prize

The Michelson Prize will recognize outstanding achievement in the scientific research and facility areas of optical interferometry. To provide recognition within the interferometry community, as well as in the broader science community, of science research programs and results from the rapidly growing field of optical interferometry, and to assist Lowell Observatory and the Commission on Optical and Near-Infrared Astronomical Interferometry with engaging the community in promoting the future of optical interferometry.

A description of the prize guidelines may be found here.

Previous Laureates

2024 Michelson Award - will be announced during the SPIE 2024 in Japan
2022, Lifetime: Dr. Jean-Philippe Berger
The Joint Michelson-Fizeau Prize Committee awarded the 2022 Michelson Lifetime Prize to Dr. Jean-Philippe Berger for his unique contributions to long baseline optical interferometry. As a pioneer of integrated optics, successfully implemented on IOTA and PTI in 1990’s, his visionary innovations in the field of astrophotonics have powered the recent major interferometric instruments, including PIONIER and GRAVITY on the VLTI, and MIRC-X on the CHARA array. Dr. Berger's technological concepts have advanced his long-term science vision to characterize the physical conditions for planet formation in the inner regions of protoplanetary disks. Highlighted in his role VLTI Programme Scientist at ESO in 2010’s, his career of dedication to international collaboration and scientific leadership has brought the highest scientific recognition worldwide to the optical interferometry community, and inspired the future generation of interferometrists.
2022, Investigator: Dr. Sylvestre Lacour
The Joint Michelson-Fizeau Prize Committee awarded the Michelson Investigator Prize for 2022 to Dr. Sylvestre Lacour for sustained leadership in a diverse body of work that has delivered outstanding scientific discoveries spanning a range of astrophysical theatres. These breakthroughs have arisen from powerfully innovative and creative instruments, algorithms and programs in which Dr. Lacour has been a driving force. A salient highlight in very recent years has been the flowering of exoplanetary science using the GRAVITY instrument at the VLTI, with discoveries in systems such as HR 8799, Beta Pictoris and PDS 70 finally allowing astronomers to dramatically elevate their game, from detection and discovery to exoplanetary characterization and analysis. Dr. Lacour's comprehensive mastery of interferometry from foundational instrument design through to advanced data inference and astrophysical insight has generated a continuing stream of discovery - from photonics to cubesats and from stellar birth to dying stars - nothing seems out of scope of his broad-ranging curiosity.
2020, Investigator: Dr. Frank Eisenhauer, on behalf of himself, the GRAVITY consortium and the ESO VLTI team
The Joint Michelson-Fizeau Prize Committee awarded the 2020 Michelson Investigator Achievement Award to Dr. Frank Eisenhauer, on behalf of himself, the GRAVITY consortium and the ESO VLTI team, for the 2020 Michelson Prize, for the groundbreaking results on the Galactic Center, active galactic nuclei, and exoplanets, with which GRAVITY and the ESQ VLTI have transformed optical interferometry.
2018, Lifetime: Doctor Harold A. McAlister
The Joint Michelson-Fizeau Prize Committee awarded the 2018 Michelson Lifetime Achievement Award to Doctor Harold A. McAlister for his leadership in the fields of speckle and long-baseline optical interferometry. This leadership begain with the establishment of GSU's Center for High Angular Resolution Astronomy, better known as CHARA, and culminated in the construction and ongoing operation of the GSU CHARA Array, one of the world's pre-eminent long-baseline facilities. CHARA, under Dr. McAlister's leadership, has been at the forefront of both technology and science at the highest levels of angular resolution.
2018, Investigator: Doctor Pierre Kervella
The Joint Michelson-Fizeau Prize Committee awarded the 2018 Michelson Investigator Achievement Award to Doctor Pierre Kervella for his scientific investigations with optical interferometry and his contributions to optical interferometry instrumentation. Scientific insights in the areas of Cepheids, evolved stars, and fundamental parameters have all been directly shaped by his investigations. Dr. Kervella has also had significant leadership in the development of instrumentation at VLTI, ranging all the way from the VINCI commissioning instrument to the recently commissioned Gravity combiner.
2014, Investigator: Professor John Monnier
The Michelson Investigator Prize for 2014 was awarded to Professor John Monnier for his extensive and varied contributions. Dr. Monnier's work in interferometry continues a rich and vigorous career in high angular resolution methods and applications. His leadership in developing the unique Michigan InfraRed Combiner, and its use at the CHARA Array in interferometric imaging, has led the community in delivering on the promise of optical interferometry to science. His group's imagery of rapidly rotating stars has excited the imagination of scientists and public alike, and has given physicists new constraints on stellar interior structure. This Prize also recognizes earlier work - Dr. Monnier's heavily cited publications on measurements of Young Stellar Objects. The first interferometric YSO angular diameters are a fundamental contribution to the understanding of preplanetary disks, essential for interpretation of measurements of many types, guiding theoretical understanding and constraining modeling of the planet formation zone.
2012, Investigator: Doctor Olivier Chesneau
The Michelson Investigator Prize for 2012 was awarded to Doctor Olivier Chesneau for his contributions to optical interferometry and to stellar astrophysics. Since 1998 Olivier has participated in integration, test, and software development for premier interferometric instruments - MIDI and MATISSE on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer, VEGA on the GI2T and CHARA interferometers. With them he has studied stellar environments - disks, winds, nebulae - in young, early type and evolved stars through the latest stages of stellar evolution. His great intuition, dedication to astronomy, and skills in astrophysics and optical interferometry as well as other high angular resolution techniques, contribute to his numerous collaborations, with 74 papers in refereed journals and 1500 citations.
2010, Lifetime: Doctor Michael Shao
The Michelson Lifetime Achievement Prize for 2010 was awarded to Doctor Michael Shao for his pioneering work on ground-based and space-based interferometers, including the Mark I, Mark II, Mark III, Palomar Testbed Interferometer, Keck Interferometer, and Space Interferometry Mission. Dr. Shao has been a prominent leader in the interferometry community, developing new avenues of research, including narrow-angle astrometry and nulling.