The man who discovered the solar wind, Eugene Parker, and one of mathematics’ great problem-solvers, Enrico Bombieri, will receive 2020's Crafoord Prize in Astronomy and Mathematics, respectively. The Crafoord Prize is worth 6 million Swedish Krona and is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in partnership with the Crafoord Foundation in Lund.

Fundamental discoveries about Space

The Parker Solar Probe is currently on its way to the sun. It was launched by NASA in 2018 and its first results were reported just before Christmas. This probe is the first to be named after a living person – Eugene N. Parker, professor emeritus at the University of Chicago, USA.

Eugene Parker is responsible for several fundamental discoveries about the gases that surround the sun and other stars. He has also developed the theory of how the solar wind arises and how magnetic fields arise and change in space. When he initially presented his theories, over fifty years ago, they were strongly challenged, but were later confirmed through observations from spacecrafts.

Eugene Parker was the first person to realise that the sun is not in equilibrium, as was previously thought. Quite the opposite, it releases mass; the charged gas of ions and electrons that makes up the sun’s “atmosphere” is expanding as a solar wind that stretches throughout our planetary system. His ideas are also the foundation for all the forecasts about the space weather, which can disrupt satellites and cause power outages here on Earth.

He will now receive the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy “for pioneering and fundamental studies of the solar wind and magnetic fields from stellar to galactic scales”.

Eugene Parker was stunned into silence when he was told about the award:

“It took my breath away. I didn´t do anything for a few minutes. I of course knew about the Crafoord Prize, so I was surprised, pleasantly so.”

FACTS about the prize

The Crafoord Prize is awarded in partnership between the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Crafoord Foundation in Lund. The Academy is responsible for selecting the Laureates. The disciplines, which change every year, are mathematics and astronomy, geosciences, biosciences and polyarthritis (e.g. rheumatoid arthritis). The prize in polyarthritis is awarded only when scientific progress in this field has been such that an award is justified. The prize disciplines are chosen as a complement to the Nobel Prizes.

This year’s Laureates in mathematics and astronomy each receive six million Swedish krona.

The prize ceremony will be held 15 May in Stockholm in the presence of H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf and H.M. Queen Silvia.

Crafoord Days will be held 12-15 May in Lund and in Stockholm.

13 May: Prize lecture in Lund
14 May: Prize symposium in Stockholm
15 May: Prize ceremony in Stockholm

FACTS about the Laureates

Astronomy

Eugene N. Parker, S. Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, USA. He was born in 1927 in Houghton, USA, and received his Ph.D. in 1951 from the California Institute of Technology, Caltech, Pasadena, USA.