This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research – one of Denmark’s oldest scientific awards. On Wednesday 30 May, two researchers received the award and a cash prize of DKK 100,000 to honour academic their outstanding academic achievement. On the same occasion, the Aarhus University Research Foundation conferred five PhD prizes.

2018.05.31 | Ida Hammerich Nielson

Professor of economics Annette Vissing Jørgensen and professor of astronomy Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard receiving the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research 2018. Photo: Lars Kruse

Professor of astronomy Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard from Aarhus University is a recipient of the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research 2018. Dalsgaard is one of the most prominent researchers in the field of contemporary stellar astronomy and has been a driving force in the exploration of exoplanets – planets which orbit stars other than the Sun. In recent years, Dalsgaard has received a number of major research grants, which has contributed to strengthening stellar astronomy research in Denmark, particularly at the Stellar Astrophysics Centre.

Professor of economics Annette Vissing Jørgensen, who graduated from Aarhus University and who is now employed at the University of California, is a recipient of the Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research 2018. Her latest research concerns how the development in returns on shares affects American monetary policy, and whether this influence is disproportionately great. She has also worked as a consultant for the American Federal Reserve System and has served on the board of the American Finance Association and the European Finance Association.

 Read more about Jørgen Christensen-Dalsgaard and Annette Vissing Jørgensen

Prizes awarded to five talented PhD graduates

On 30 May, the Aarhus University Research Foundation awarded a PhD talent prize with a cash award of DKK 50,000 to five different PhD graduates from Aarhus University who have achieved extraordinary results in their research and research communication. The prize-winners are:

Jesper Aagaard (educational psychology)  has carried out empirical studies in upper secondary school classes that reveal the seductive power social media can have, as well as how technology habits may affect the quality of both learning and social interaction.

Amin Salami Dehkharghani (quantum mechanics)  has helped to lay a foundation for our understanding of one-dimensional quantum systems. This can have a major significance on the technology of the future.

Toke Isaksen (neurophysiology)  has localised a defect in the sodium-potassium pump in brain cells using experiments on mice. This discovery can have an impact on the future treatment of neurological disorders.

Sigrún Schmidt (register studies)  has developed a new method for studying the slightly mysterious and very unpleasant disease shingles. Her work has laid to rest the theory that the disease is triggered by stress.

Winnie Soon (software art)  has developed a framework to analyse the concept of liveness in computer culture, i.e. what it means that something is done live, and how this is perceived.

The Rigmor and Carl Holst-Knudsen Award for Scientific Research was awarded for the first time in 1958 – so this year is the 60th anniversary of the award. Watch a film about Carl Holst-Knudsen

For further information, please contact:

 From Aarhus University: Ida Hammerich Nielson ihn@au.dk +45 6020 2626

From the Aarhus University Research Foundation: Henrik Dalgaard: hd@auff.dk, +45 715 3354/+ +45 2382 3230