Van Waerbeke receives Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award

Dr. Ludovic van Waerbeke, renowned for his research in the detection of dark matter and related topics in cosmology and fundamental physics, receives the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation in Germany. The award is valued at €45,000; Ludo will also be invited to spend up to one year to work on a long-term project with other research colleagues in Germany. Congratulations Ludo!

Our universe is made up of roughly 5% normal matter, 20% dark matter, and 75% dark energy. The goal for Ludo's work is to better understand the structure of our universe and its fundamental laws - by combining the observation of normal matter, the detection of dark matter indirectly through the gravitational lensing effect, and the measurement of dark energy's effect based on the expansion of the universe. The Bessel Research Award not only recognizes Ludo for his past teaching and research accomplishments, but also invests into the cutting-edge research he will achieve in the future, as expected by the Foundation to have " seminal influence on his discipline beyond his immediate field of work". The Humboldt Foundation grants only about 20 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Awards annually.

Ludo is a Professor in the Department of Physics & Astronomy, and a senior fellow for the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.