Astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi Wins Highest Canadian Science Prize

Summary: American Canadian strophysicist Vicky Kaspi wins highest Canadian science prize as first female recipient of Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal.

American Canadian astrophysicist Victoria "Vicky" Kaspi, first female awardee of $1 million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering: 1701News @1701News, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2016

American Canadian astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi is the first female to win Canada’s highest science prize, the $1 million Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, according to an announcement Feb. 16, 2016, by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

“McGill University astrophysicist Dr. Victoria M. Kaspi is the recipient of the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering. Dr. Kaspi is one of the world’s leading experts on neutron stars, the ancient remnants of the most massive stars in the Milky Way. Her research group has had major impacts in the field of astrophysics, and her seminal work sheds light on how stars evolve, how they die and, ultimately, the very nature of matter under extreme conditions,” notes the Council’s Feb. 16 news release.

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) distributes the $1 million grant that is included in the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering over 5 years. Vicky Kaspi may apply the grant to personal university-based discovery research or to such related endeavors as establishing research Chairs in her name at Canadian universities. Established in 2000, the prize honors Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg, German-Canadian physicist and physical chemist who won the Noble Prize for Chemistry in 1971.

Victoria “Vicky” Michelle Kaspi holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology at her undergraduate alma mater, Montreal’s McGill University, and also serves as director of the McGill Space Institute. The Austin, Texas-born American Canadian astrophysicist holds one of McGill University’s first seven Canada Research Chairs (CRCs), awarded Jan. 11, 2001, in the first wave of 195 recipients of the Canada Research Chairs Program by the Canadian government.

“I don’t even have the words to convey how I feel about it,” astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi tells Dr. B. Mario Pinto, NSERC president, in his congratulatory YouTube interview Feb. 16. “I am profoundly honored and really deeply touched to have that recognition of the research that my group does. And really I accept it on behalf of my research group. Also, to be in the same category as some of the past Herzberg award winners just blows me away. I’m thrilled and honored.”

Astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi is one of three McGill University researchers honored with NSERC prizes in 2016. Elena M. Bennett, jointly appointed assistant professor in McGill’s Department of Natural Resource Sciences and School of Environment, receives one of six annual $250,000 E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowships. Yasser Gidi, a doctoral candidate in McGill’s Department of Chemistry, wins the $10,000 Gilles Brassard Doctoral Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.

“McGill is grateful to NSERC for recognizing three of our exceptional researchers with these prestigious awards,” Suzanne Fortier, McGill University’s 17th Principal and Vice-Chancellor, says in McGill’s news release. “We congratulate Prof. Kaspi and Prof. Bennett, for their leadership in the exciting areas of astrophysics and earth systems science. I also extend my congratulations to Mr. Yasser Gidi, the winner of the Gilles Brassard Doctoral Prize, for his outstanding research in the science of disease.”

The day that opens with the prestigious award bestowed upon astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi closes with a recognition ceremony at 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time in the ballroom at Rideau Hall, official residence of David Lloyd Johnston as 28th Governor General of Canada in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city. Dr. Pinto and Kirsty Ellen Duncan, Minister of Science of Canada, join the general governor in presenting six NSERC prizes totaling $3.71 million.

In his congratulatory speech, Governor General Johnston spotlights the receipt of the two top NSERC prizes by women.

"And speaking of opportunity: I’d like to say a few words about the importance of not only excellence, but equality of opportunity in science and engineering. And on that front, I want to highlight that two of tonight’s top prizes are being presented to women: the Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal to Ms. Victoria Kaspi, and the John C. Polanyi Award to Barbara Sherwood Lollar. What great achievements! May they blaze a trail for many brilliant women to follow," the governor general says.

photo by Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail: NSERC / CRSNG @NSERC_CRSNG, via Twitter Feb. 16, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

"Super-scientist Victoria Kaspi is a Trekker, too!": 1701News @1701News, via Twitter Feb. 17, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/1701News/status/700002873082540037

photo by Christinne Muschi/The Globe and Mail: NSERC / CRSNG‏ @NSERC_CRSNG, via Twitter Feb. 16, 2016, @ https://twitter.com/NSERC_CRSNG/status/699589096071655424

For further information:

1701News @1701News "Super-scientist Victoria Kaspi is a Trekker, too!" Twitter. Feb. 17, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/1701News/status/700002873082540037

"Canada Research Chairs announced." McGill Reporter > Volume 33: 2000-2001 > January 11, 2001. Jan. 11, 2001, vol. 33, no. 08.
Available @ https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/33/08/chairs/

Chipello, Chris. "Astrophysicist Vicky Kaspi wins top Cdn science prize." McGill University > Newsroom. Feb. 16, 2016.
Available @ https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/channels/news/astrophysicist-vicky-kaspi-wins-top-cdn-science-prize-258612

NSERC / CRSNG‏ @NSERC_CRSNG. ".@McGillU astrophysicist first woman to win Canada's pre-eminent science award." Twitter. Feb. 16, 2016.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NSERC_CRSNG/status/699589096071655424

NSERCTube. "NSERC Presents a Conversation with Victoria Kaspi." YouTube. Feb. 16, 2016.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgaHukkKrv4

"Remise des prix du Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada (CRSNG)." Le Gouverneur Général du Canada > Nouvelles > Discours.
Available @ http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=16332&lan=fra

"Victoria M. Kaspi." NSERC > NSERC Prizes >Gerhard Herzberg > Current Winner.
Available @ http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Prizes-Prix/Herzberg-Herzberg/Profiles-Profils/Kaspi-Kaspi_eng.asp