Mt. Lemmon Astronomy Camp alum wins the “Oscar of the natural sciences”
Rebecca Jensen-Clem, a multi-year alumna of Astronomy Camp on Mt. Lemmon, is one of this year's winners for the New Horizons Prize in Physics. Her time at Astronomy Camp sparked her interest in technology development and exoplanet detection--now, the New Horizons Prize honors her work on developing new technologies for exoplanet imaging.
‘The Oscars of the natural sciences’, is what they are called: the Breakthrough Prizes awarded annually in America by the Breakthrough Foundation. These include the New Horizons prizes for early-stage researchers. Rebecca Jensen-Clem, a multi-year alumna of Steward Observatory's Astronomy Camp on Mt. Lemmon, is one of this year's winners for the New Horizons Prize in Physics.
Rebecca’s research focuses on extreme adaptive optics technology development and observational exoplanet science. She studies the atmospheres of gas giant exoplanets and brown dwarfs using near-infrared polarimetry while pushing the state of the art in wavefront sensing and control to discover new exoplanets.
Rebecca was an astronomy camper in 2005, 2006, and 2008. “Camp was a hugely transformative experience because it was the first time that I was exposed to observational astronomy research, working observatories, peers who shared my interests in astronomy, and mentors who were themselves professional astronomers,” she said. She continues to be in touch with the Astronomy Camp community of counselors, campers, and teachers.
“Because astronomy camp gave me the opportunity to spend time with the telescopes themselves, it stimulated my interest in technology development in a way that just interacting with astronomical data on a computer could not,” Rebecca said. “I was also able to try my hand at exoplanet detection for the first time. All of these experiences set the stage for my work on developing new technologies for exoplanet imaging, which led to the New Horizons in Physics prize.”
Rebecca shares the prize in astronomy with Sebastiaan Haffert (also a Steward Observatory alumnus) and Maaike van Kooten. They share a cash prize of $100,000.
Breakthrough prizes are awarded annually for the most important breakthroughs in life sciences, fundamental physics and mathematics. The foundation that awards the prizes was founded by Russian physicist, businessman and billionaire Yuri Milner.