Jo Dunkley, a professor of physics and astrophysical sciences at Princeton University in New Jersey, is the 2020 recipient of the Caterina Tomassoni and Felice Pietro Chisesi Prize. Professor Dudley is being honored for her innovative work exploring the earliest moments of our universe.
The prize citation cites Professor Dunkley’s “development of innovative analysis methods for cosmic microwave background anisotropy and polarization data, efficiently constraining both cosmology and fundamental physics, and producing a unifying view of the physical universe.” Dr. Dunkley works on the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and the Simons Observatory studying the origins and evolution of the universe with a team of undergraduates, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers.
The Tomossoni Chisesi Prize encourages and recognizes scientists making outstanding advances in the physical sciences. An award ceremony takes place each year at the Sapienza University of Roma, with the prize recipient receiving 40,000 Euros (about $45,000) and the medal of the Schola Physica Romana. Dr. Dunkley has chosen to donate the proceeds to the National Society of Black Physicists.
Dr. Dunkley is the author of Our Universe: An Astronomer’s Guide (Harvard University Press, 2019). She joined the Princeton faculty in 2016 after teaching at the University of Oxford in England. Professor Dunkley holds a master’s degree in theoretical physics from the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Oxford.