Astronomer Amina Helmi receives Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture Award

The 2021 Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture Award has been awarded to astronomer Prof. Amina Helmi of the Kapteyn Institute of the University of Groningen. As the Award winner, Prof. Helmi will have the honour to give this year’s Woltjer Lecture to the European Astronomical Society (EAS). In addition, she will receive a medal. The Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture Award is awarded to academics who have made exceptional contributions to their field.

Helmi has been invited to give the lecture because of her extraordinary career in astronomy, in particular in the field of galactic archaeology: the reconstruction of the history of galaxies based on the current position, movement and composition of stars. As an astronomical archaeologist, she searches for remnants of ancient galaxies and uses these to reconstruct the evolution of our Milky Way.

The Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture, which was named after the Dutch astronomer Lodewijk Woltjer (1930-2019), will take place during the annual EAS meeting in the week of 28 June to 2 July.

Amina Helmi

Prof. Helmi is Professor of Dynamics, Structure and Formation of the Milky Way at the Kapteyn Institute of the University of Groningen and deputy director of NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy. In 2019 she was awarded the NWO Spinoza Prize, the highest academic award in the Netherlands.

European Astronomical Society

The European Astronomical Society, which established the Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture in 2010 in honour of Lodewijk Woltjer, aims to promote astronomy in Europe and encourage collaboration between European research institutes in this field.