Indian Born Shrinivas Kulkarni Won The Shaw Prize In Astronomy

Shrinivas Kulkarni, a professor of astronomy received the prestigious Shaw Prize in Astronomy for his discoveries about millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects.

Who is Shrinivas Kulkarni? 

Shrinivas Kulkarni is a renowned Indian-origin astronomer who settled in the US. He was born on 4th October 1956 in Kurundwad, Maharashtra. He obtained his master's degree in applied physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 1978 and completed his PhD at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1983.

Shrinivas Kulkarni with Donald Backer and colleagues discovered the first millisecond pulsar called PSR B1937+21 in 1982. With his interest and knowledge, Kulkarni has made a sustained series of fundamental discoveries in the millisecond pulsars, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae, and other variable or transient astronomical objects.

The Shaw Prize In Astronomy:

The Shaw Prize was awarded to Shrinivas Kulkarni for his contribution to the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF, 2009) and its successor, the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF, 2017), two novel astronomical surveys using a seventy-year-old telescope at Palomar Observatory in southern California.

He made discoveries in various areas of stellar astronomy, including his role in the discovery of one of the first brown dwarfs stars that are so small that they cannot burn hydrogen by nuclear fusion. This discovery was significant as it revealed the existence of brown dwarfs, which is similar to planets' presence in the atmosphere, and laid the foundation for extensive research on the atmospheres of sub-stellar objects.

The Shaw Prize was awarded to him with The Shaw Prize on 21 May 2024, in Hong Kong said, "This award is also intended to recognise Kulkarni’s discoveries in other areas of stellar astronomy, in particular his role in the discovery of one of the first “brown dwarfs” — stars so small that they cannot burn hydrogen by nuclear fusion. Brown dwarfs bridge the gap between giant planets like Jupiter and hydrogen-burning stars like the Sun, and this discovery revealed the existence of brown dwarfs with atmospheric properties similar to planets and set the stage for decades of work on the atmospheres of sub-stellar objects."

In addition to Kulkarni, the other Shaw Prize awardees are Swee Lay Thein and Stuart Orkin, both from the US, who received the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine in equal shares, and Peter Sarnak, another US scientist who received the Shaw Prize in Mathematical Sciences.

Shrinivas Kulkarni Other Awards:

•  Alan T. Waterman Award in 1992
•  Helen B. Warner Prize in 1991
•  Jansky Prize in 2002
•  Dan David Prize in 2017
•  Shaw Prize in Astronomy in 2024