11 Jan 08

Professor Joseph Silk has been recognised for his achievements in cosmology over the last 40 years.

Joseph Silk, Savilian Professor of Astronomy has been awarded the Royal Astronomical Society’s 2008 Gold Medal, the Society’s highest award, in recognition of his achievements in cosmology over the last 40 years and in particular his work on developing our understanding of cosmic microwave background – the fossil remnant of the heat of the Universe that originated with the Big Bang.

Professor Silk has made many contributions to astronomy, for example in the theory of star formation, high-energy astrophysics and on the intergalactic medium – the material between galaxies. He is the author of over 400 papers in referred journals and also the author of a number of popular science books such as The Left Hand of Creation, The Big Bang, A Short History of the Universe and The Infinite Cosmos.

Professor Silk is the Director of the Beecroft Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Oxford and was previously Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of California at Berkeley. He is currently researching the nature of dark matter.

Commenting on his research Professor Silk said: ‘The emergence of cosmic structure is an outcome that has been studied by peering back through the mists of time to the remote depth of the universe as well as by deciphering the fossil structure of nearby galaxies.

‘One of the greatest mysteries of the cosmos is that it is mostly dark. That is, not only is the observed night-sky dark, but also most of the matter in the universe whose existence is directly inferred from the observations. For every atom visible in planets, stars and galaxies today there exists at least five or six times as much pervasive, and mysterious, “Dark Matter” in the universe. Understanding its nature presents one of the greatest challenges in physics.’

The Royal Astronomical Society is the UK's leading professional body for astronomy & astrophysics, geophysics, solar and solar-terrestrial physics, and planetary sciences. The society awards two gold medals each year: one for achievement in either geophysics; solar physics; solar-terrestrial physics or planetary sciences; and another for astronomy, cosmology, astroparticle physics and cosmochemistry.