Prestigious 2026 Kavli Prize for Amina Helmi

27 August 2026

decorative image — Amina Helmi | Photo Kavli Prize Committee

Amina Helmi, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Groningen, has been awarded the prestigious 2026 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics. She will receive the prize alongside Vasily Belokurov (University of Cambridge) and Rodrigo Ibata (Université de Strasbourg). The international award is being presented for ‘uncovering fossil evidence of past mergers that demonstrate the Milky Way was formed through mergers with other galaxies.’

Alongside the Nobel Prize, the Kavli Prize is regarded as one of the highest honours in science and is awarded every two years by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. The laureates will each receive a gold medal and a joint cash prize of one million US dollars. The prize will be presented by a member of the Royal Family of Norway next week during the Kavli Prize Week in Oslo.

Amina Helmi studied astronomy at the National University of La Plata in Argentina and obtained her PhD at Leiden University. Since 2003, she has been affiliated with the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute of the University of Groningen and has established herself as one of the world’s leading astronomers. She has previously received, among other honours, the Spinoza Prize, the highest distinction in Dutch science.

The award of the Kavli Prize brings exceptional international recognition to her research into the origin and evolution of galaxies. The prize also underlines the University of Groningen’s leading position in the field of astronomical research.

‘This prize is a wonderful recognition of years of international research into the history of our galaxy,’ said Helmi. ‘Thanks to missions such as Gaia, we are increasingly able to interpret the Milky Way as a historical archive of events that took place billions of years ago.’

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