Kevin Govender is the director of the Office of Astronomy for Development and the joint recipient of the Edinburgh Medal together with the International Astronomical Union (IAU). [1] [2] The award was presented in recognition of the creation and practical establishment of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Development. [3]
He was born in South Africa, and was trained as an experimental nuclear physicist. [2] He held the post of Manager of the Southern African Large Telescope's Collateral Benefits Programme at the South African Astronomical Observatory, and was appointed director of the Office of Astronomy for Development in 2011. [2]
The International Astronomical Union is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and development through global cooperation. It was founded on 28 July 1919 in Brussels, Belgium and is based in Paris, France.
William Wallace Campbell was an American astronomer, and director of Lick Observatory from 1901 to 1930. He specialized in spectroscopy. He was the tenth president of the University of California from 1923 to 1930.
Anneila Isabel Sargent is a Scottish–American astronomer who specializes in star formation.
The Hon. Alexander William Roberts FRSE FRAS FRSSA was a Scottish-born, South African teacher and an amateur astronomer. He was an expert on the stars of the southern hemisphere and did much mapping of these stars. He was affectionately known as Roberts of Lovedale.
William Ashley Bradfield was a New Zealand-born Australian amateur astronomer, notable as a prolific amateur discoverer of comets. He discovered 18 comets, all of which bear his name as the sole discoverer.
Martha Patricia Haynes is an American astronomer who specializes in radio astronomy and extragalactic astronomy. She is the distinguished professor of arts and sciences in astronomy at Cornell University. She has been on a number of high-level committees within the US and International Astronomical Community, including advisory committee for the Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences of the National Academies (2003–2008) and Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Review. She was a vice-president of the executive committee of the International Astronomical Union from 2006–2012, and was on the board of trustees of Associated Universities Inc from 1994 until 2016, serving two terms as board chair and one year as interim president.
Brian J. Boyle is a Scottish astrophysicist based in Sydney, Australia from 1996 to 2019, and in Queenstown, New Zealand from 2020. His primary research interests are in the fields of quasars, active galaxies and cosmology.
Michael William Feast was a British-South African astronomer. He served as Director of the South African Astronomical Observatory from 1976–1992, then became a professor at the University of Cape Town.
Bernard Lewis Fanaroff is a South African astronomer and trade unionist. He served in several positions in the South African government from 1994 to 2000 related to the Reconstruction and Development Programme, the RDP, and to Safety and Security.From 2003 to 2015 he led South Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope, the SKA, in Africa and the design and construction of the MeerKAT radio telescope. He is the co-developer of the Fanaroff–Riley classification, a method of classifying radio galaxies. He was the Project Director of South Africa's Square Kilometre Array bid.
The Edinburgh Medal is a scientific medal given at the Edinburgh International Science Festival since 1989. The Edinburgh Medal is an award given each year to men and women recognized for their contributions to science and technology and whose professional achievements have made a significant contribution to the understanding and well-being of humanity. It was instituted by the City of Edinburgh Council in 1988 and has been presented at the Edinburgh International Science Festival since 1989. Each year the recipient attends an awards ceremony and delivers an address at the Festival.
George Kildare Miley is an Irish-Dutch astronomer. He holds a professorship at Leiden University, where he served as director of Leiden Observatory from 1996 to 2003.
The Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) is an office of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) established in 2011 to further the use of astronomy as a tool for development.
Emmanuel H. Hugot is a French astrophysicist, deputy director at the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille. known for his contribution to the developments of new technologies that help to improve telescopes used by professional astronomers around the world. This includes the development of more efficient curved detectors, but also improvements in the manufacturing methods for optical elements and active optics systems. The technologies developed by Hugot and his group are used on the SPHERE instrument mounted on the European Very Large Telescope, as well as the coronagraphic instrument of the future NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, which are used to detect exoplanets.
Renée C. Kraan-Korteweg is a Dutch-South African scientist.
Professor Patricia Ann Whitelock is a British-born astrophysicist with dual British-South African nationality. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa ; a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa; and a member of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP),.
Sheila Rowan is a Scottish physicist and academic, who is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and director of its Institute for Gravitational Research since 2009. She is known for her work in advancing the detection of gravitational waves. In 2016, Rowan was appointed the (part-time) Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.
Ajit Kembhavi is an Indian astrophysicist. He is presently a professor emeritus at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, (IUCAA) at Pune, India, of which he was also a founder member. He also serves as a vice president of the International Astronomical Union. He is the Principal Investigator of Pune Knowledge Cluster along with Professor L. S. Shashidhara.
Carolina Ödman-Govender was a Swiss physicist and academic who was Professor of Astrophysics at South Africa's University of the Western Cape. She was awarded the 2018 International Astronomical Union Special Executive Committee Award for Astronomy Outreach, Development and Education.
The Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute (ESSTI) is an Ethiopian institute for research, training and infrastructure development in space science, created in 2016.