Created in 1994 at the initiative of the Alumni and Friends of UCLouvain, the biennial Georges Lemaître International Prize recognises a scientist who, during their academic career, has contributed most remarkably to the development and promotion of scientific knowledge in the field of cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, geophysics or space research. Laureates are selected by an international scientific committee chaired by UCLouvain’s vice-rector for research.
Since 1995, the Georges Lemaître International Prize has been awarded to 16 scientists: Philipp J.E. Peebles (2019 Nobel Prize in Physics), Jean-Claude Duplessy, Jean-Pierre Luminet, Dominique Lambert, Kurt Lambeck, Alain Hubert, Édouard Bard, Susan Solomon, Jean Kovalevsky, André Berger, Michael Heller, Anny Cazenave, Jean-Philippe Uzan, Kip Thorne (2017 Nobel Prize in Physics), George Ellis and Sheperd S. Doeleman.
The 15th ceremony of the Georges Lemaître International Prize will be awarded to Professor Wendy Freedman.