Yale astrophysicists Chiara Mingarelli, assistant professor; Priya Natarajan, Joseph S. and Sophia S. Fruton Professor of Astronomy; and physics graduate student Bjorn Larsen as part of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav) have been awarded The 2025 Bruno Rossi Prize along with principle investigators Maura McLaughlin and Xavier Siemens. NANOGrav is being honored for finding evidence of the stochastic gravitational wave background, the first direct indication of the existence of binary supermassive black holes.
Mingarelli commented, “It is an honor to share the Bruno Rossi Prize with the talented scientists of NANOGrav. This recognition celebrates not only our discovery of evidence for the stochastic gravitational wave background but also the immense dedication and collaboration within our team. At Yale, my group is continuing to push the boundaries of gravitational wave astrophysics, and we’re running full steam ahead into this exciting new era of discovery. This is just the beginning!”
The Bruno Rossi Prize is awarded annually by the High Energy Astrophysics division of the American Astronomical Society in honor of Bruno Rossi “for a significant contribution to High Energy Astrophysics, with particular emphasis on recent, original work.”
The prize includes a $1500 cash award, a citation, and an invited lecture by up to two recipients at a meeting of the Division. This is usually a plenary talk given at the winter meeting of the AAS. Many congratulations to the awardees.