Satya Gontcho A Gontcho recognized with the Giuseppe Sciacca International Award

The University of Rochester cosmologist Satya Gontcho A Gontcho has been given the 2019 Guiseppe Sciacca Prize for Astronomy and Physics. This award recognizes young scientists and artists from all over the world who have excelled in their field of expertise while distinguishing themselves by their human qualities and outstanding dedication to others.

Dr. Gontcho A Gontcho is a member of a recently formed cosmology group in the Department of Physics and Astronomy led by Professors Demina and BenZvi. The group has joined the Dark Energy Spectroscopy Instrumentation (DESI) experiment and is studying the imprint of primordial sound waves, referred to as Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), on the large-scale structures in the distribution of matter. The scale of BAO is the yard stick of cosmology. Measuring the size of this yard stick as a function of time allows scientists to map the expansion history of the Universe, thus gaining insights into the nature of dark energy. The DESI experiment is one of the major initiatives by the US Department of Energy to understand the dark energy. The program will perform a spectral survey of tens of millions of galaxies and quasars using the Mayall 4-meter telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. The experiment recently saw first light.

The award ceremony took place on November 9 in the Great Hall of the Pontifical Urbaniana University at the Vatican City.

This is not the first international recognition Dr. Goncho A Goncho has received. She recently made the 2019 30 under 30 in Science and Healthcare Forbes list as well.