RAS Winton Capital Award for Astronomy: Michal Michalowski

Dr Michal Michalowski, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Physics & Astronomy, has received a prestigious award from the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS).

He was awarded the RAS 2014 Winton Capital Award for Astronomy, which recognises the postdoctoral fellow whose career has shown the most promising development.

Dr Michalowski gained his PhD from the University of Copenhagen in 2009. Since 2010 he has worked at the Institute for Astronomy (IfA), where his research concerns the early evolution of the universe.

This includes observing and modelling the spectral energy distributions of high-redshift galaxies, particularly at radio and sub-millimetre wavelengths, and estimating their physical parameters such as star-formation rates, stellar masses and dust masses.

He has also studied the origin of large dust masses in sub-millimetre galaxies, their evolution and their assembly into larger galaxies over time. He works with researchers in Denmark, using gamma ray bursters to identify early galaxies and probe their properties.

Making the award, the RAS described Dr Michalowski as having made a dynamic start to a promising career.

They noted his research has been carried out with collaborators worldwide, using cutting-edge observational facilities, and documented in a remarkable output of well-cited publications.