J. Colin Hill, an associate professor of physics, was awarded a New Horizons in Physics Prize by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation on Saturday. He was recognized alongside five other researchers for advances in cosmic microwave background and supernovae cosmology.
The Breakthrough Prizes were created to celebrate the wonders of our scientific age. Co-founded by Sergey Brin, Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg, Julia and Yuri Milner, and Anne Wojcicki, the prizes are now in their fourteenth year.
The Breakthrough Foundation cited Hill and five fellow researchers who “have gleaned powerful new results from the two most important tools for measuring the expansion and composition of the Universe: the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation left over from the Big Bang, and light from exploding stars known as Type Ia supernovae.”
Hill and fellow researchers, the statement said, have “pushed analyses of CMB data beyond previous limits, producing the most precise tests to date of the standard cosmological model as well as of gravitational lensing of the CMB – the subtle bending of light from the early Universe by the matter it passes on its way to us.”
In 2023, Simon Brendle, a professor of mathematics at Columbia, was awarded a Breakthrough Prize in mathematics, while Oliver Philcox, then a postdoctoral fellow at Columbia, was recognized with a New Horizons in Physics prize.
“This year’s laureates show what great science can do — deepen our understanding of the world and lead to discoveries that improve millions of lives,” said Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, founders of Biohub. “We’re proud to recognize their work.”
