Berlin meeting for astrophysics committee

The Kavli Prize Committee in Astrophysics consists of: Oddbjørn Engvold, University of Oslo, Norway (Chair), Guinevière Kauffmann, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Germany, Joseph Silk, University of Oxford, UK, Andrew Fabian, University of Cambridge, UK, and Claire Max, University of California Santa Cruz, US.

It has become a tradition that the Kavli Prize committees meet at a Norwegian embassy or a consulate for their final meeting. In Berlin the Kavli Prize Committee in Astrophysics met in the building shared by all the Nordic embassies in Germany. The Norwegian Ambassador to Germany, Sven Svedman, hosted a reception at the residence in honour of the Kavli Prize Committee. Among the guests were German scientists, representatives from several scientific organizations and from the media.

At The reception in honour of the Kavli Prize Committee. From left: Oddbjørn Engvold, Claire Max, Øivind Andersen, Guinevière Kauffmann, Sven Svedman, Joseph Silk and Andrew Fabian.

Øivind Andersen, the Secretary General of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, thanked Ambassador Sven Svedman for hosting the Kavli Prize Committee meeting and for his generosity by giving this reception. Ambassador Svedman was also the host for the Kavli Prize Committee in Nanoscience when they met in Berlin in 2008.

The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters awards the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics, Nanoscience and Neuroscience based on the recommendations from the Kavli Prize Committees which consist of leading scientists within these fields. Øivind Andersen stressed that the committees are essential for the international recognition and prestige of the Kavli Prize. The Norwegian Academy appoints the committees after receiving recommendations from the Max Planck Society, the French Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, US, and the Royal Society in the UK.

The Kavli Prize Committee in Neuroscience will meet in New York on the 11th and 12th of April. The Kavli Prize Committee in Nanoscience will meet in Beijing on the 17th and 18th of April. 

The President of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, Nils Christian Stenseth, will announce the names of the 2012 Kavli Prize Laureates on the 31st of May.