Jonatan Selsing Wins Award for the Most Outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Danish Astronomy 2018

Jonatan Selsing has won the IDA PhD Prize, which is an award for the most scientifically outstanding astronomy PhD Thesis defended at a Danish university in 2018. Jonatan was presented with the price at the Annual Danish Astronomy Meeting in Nyborg, Denmark, in the beginning of May.

We are incredibly proud of Jonatan and his achievements here at the Cosmic Dawn Center!

Jonatan is a postdoc at DAWN and is employed under a DFF grant to Dr. Darach Watson, Associate Professor. Jonatan received his PhD degree in 2018 from the Dark Cosmology Centre under the supervision of Dr. Lise Christensen, who was also the person who nominated Jonatan for the award.

Jonatan’s research is centered on the transient universe and how these events shape the cosmo-chemical evolution history of our Universe.

The IDA PhD Prize is an award for the most scientifically outstanding astronomy PhD thesis defended at a Danish university. The winner of the IDA PhD Prize is expected to present his/her work at the Annual Astronomy Meeting, which Jonatan did on 02 May 2019.

Jonatan’s Doctoral Thesis was about Gamma Ray Bursts (GRB), the brightest things that explode in the Universe, what they tell us on the chemical enrichment history of the Universe, and their use as probes of the deepest cosmos. Due to his involvement with GRB's, Jonatan also helped locate and analyze the kilonova associated with one of the first LIGO gravitational wave signals (GW170817) of the merger of two neutron stars, the phenomenon in which the processes that form the heavier elements occur.

About winning the prize, Jonatan says; “I’m deeply honored to receive this prize. This is an amazing pad on the shoulder for an early career scientist, such as myself!”

A huge congratulation to Jonathan for winning the award for the most outstanding Doctoral Thesis in Danish Astronomy 2018!