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

2020 - (will be announced during the SPIE 2022 in Montreal, along with the 2022 Prize)
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.
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.
The Michelson Investigator Prize for 2014 was awarded to Professor John Monnier for his extensive and varied contributions. John'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 - John'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.
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.
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.