Plaskett Medal

Background

The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada and the Canadian Astronomical Society have established an award entitled The Plaskett Medal in recognition of the pivotal role played by John Stanley Plaskett (1865-1941) in the establishment of astrophysical research in Canada. Plaskett helped to confirm the rotation rate of the Milky Way. He was an active member of the Ottawa Centre between 1907 and 1918 and acted as an Associate Editor of the Journal for 28 years.

First presented in May 1988, the Plaskett Medal is jointly sponsored by the RASC and CASCA. The history of the Plaskett Medal, which evolved from the Society’s Gold Medal (now awarded by the Toronto Centre to a U. of T. student), is published in JRASC Vol. 82, No. 6, 1988, pages 312-316.

The Award

The award, consisting of a gold medal, is to be made annually to the Ph.D. graduate from a Canadian university who is judged to have submitted the most outstanding doctoral thesis in astronomy or astrophysics in the preceding two calendar years. Thus it is possible to re-nominate a candidate for whom an unsuccessful nomination was made in the preceding year.

The recipient is invited to address one or the other of the sponsoring Societies (at his or her choice) at their Annual Meetings. According to the policy of each Society, some or all of his or her expenses to attend the meeting will be covered by the hosting Society. The recipient will also receive a $750 honorarium.

More Information

Recipients

Links are provided for the few citations published in JRASC.

2023 Dr. Deborah Lokhorst University of Toronto  
2022 Dr. Deborah Good University of British Columbia  
2021 Dr. Ziggy Plounis McGill University  
2020 Dr. Simon Blouin Université de Montréal  
2019 Dr. Alexandra Tetarenko University of Alberta  
2018 Dr. Gwendolyn Eadie McMaster University  
2017 Dr. Fereshteh Rajabi Western University  
2016 Dr. Jonathan Gagné Université de Montréal  
2015 Dr. Anne Archibald McGill University  
2014 Dr. Andrew Pon University of Victoria  
2013 Dr. Yasuhiro Hasegawa McMaster University  
2012 Dr. Pier-Emmanuel Tremblay Université de Montréal  
2011 Dr. Kaitlin Kratter University of Toronto JRASC
2010 Dr. Helen Kirk University of Victoria JRASC
2009 Dr. Catherine Lovekin Saint Mary's University JRASC
2008 Dr. Adam Muzzin University of Toronto  
2007 Dr. Frédéric Grandmont Université Laval  
2006 Dr. Lauren A. McArthur University of British Columbia  
2005 Dr. Christian Marois Université de Montréal JRASC
2004 Dr. Jo-Anne Brown University of Toronto JRASC
2003 Dr. Tracey Webb University of Toronto JRASC
2002 Dr. Edward Thommes Queen’s University  
2001 Dr. Peter Brown University of Western Ontario  
2000 Dr. Alexei Razoumov University of British Columbia  
1999 Dr. Stéphane Charpinet Université de Montréal  
1998 Dr. Dean McLaughlin McMaster University  
1997 Dr. Alain Beauchamp Université de Montréal  
1996 Dr. Gordon Squires University of Toronto  
1995 Dr. Michael Richer York University  
1994 Dr. Grant Hill University of Western Ontario  
1993 Dr. Paul Brassard University of Toronto  
1992 Dr. Eric Poisson University of Alberta  
1991 Dr. Paul Charbonneau Université de Montréal  
1990 Dr. Pierre Bergeron Université de Montréal  
1989 Dr. Peter Leonard University of Toronto  
1988 Dr. Richard Gray University of Toronto  

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