Bok Prize

The Bok Prize is awarded annually by the Astronomical Society of Australia and the Australian Academy of Science to recognise outstanding research in astronomy by honoring a student at an Australian university. The prize consists of the Bok Medal together with an award of $1000 and ASA membership for the following year.

History The prize is named to commemorate the energetic work of Bart Bok in promoting the undergraduate and graduate study of astronomy in Australia, during his term (1957–1966) as Director of the Mount Stromlo Observatory.

Past winners Source: Astronomical Society of Australia Year Winner University Awarded for2025Li YusenAustralian National UniversityOrbital dynamics in barred Milky Way 2024 Sophie Young University of Tasmania Free-free Absorption in Young Radio Galaxies 2023 William McDonald The University of Western Australia Dissociation of Dark Matter and Gas in Cosmic Large-scale Structure 2022 Maria Djuric University of Sydney It looks like the Milky Way is a giant Swiss roll 2021 Madeleine McKenzie The University of Western Australia Simulating the Formation of Multiple Stellar Populations in Globular Clusters 2020 James Beattie Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) Supersonic Turbulent Molecular Clouds: Filaments and Anisotropies 2019 Sam Cree University of Queensland Can the fluctuations of the Quantum Vacuum Solve the Cosmological Constant Problem? 2018 Matthew Keen University of Sydney Asteroseismology of Subgiant Stars: A Study of Mixed-Mode Oscillations 2017 Madeline Marshall University of Tasmania Triggering Active Galactic Nuclei in Galaxy Clusters 2016 Samuel Hinton University of Queensland Extraction of Cosmological Information from WiggleZ 2015 Cleo Loi University of Sydney Waves in the sky: Probing the ionosphere with the Murchison Widefield Array 2014 Ross Turner University of Tasmania Evolution of radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei 2013 Ben Pope University of Sydney Dancing in the Dark: Kernel Phase Interferometry of Ultracool Dwarfs 2012 Alison Hammond University of Sydney Cosmic Magnetism: Faraday Rotation as a Probe of Extragalactic Magnetic Fields 2011 Barnaby Norris University of Sydney A study of AGB circumstellar dust shells using optical polarimetric interferometry 2010 Madusha Gunawardhana Macquarie University/AAO Constraints on the Evolution of the Stellar Initial Mass Function 2009 Peter Jensen University of Queensland The Colours of Galaxies in Intermediate X-ray Luminosity Galaxy Clusters 2008 Christopher Hales University of Sydney Cosmic Forensics: A study of the Pulsar Wind Nebula G359.1-23, The Mouse 2007 Katie Dodds-Eden Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) TeVeS Theory and observational tests. 2006 Brent Miszalski Macquarie University Simulated Annealing and Optimisation of 2dF Fibre Configuration 2005 Patrick Scott Australian National University CO spectral line formation in the sun: convective simulation, line profiles and isotopic abundances 2004 Stanislav Shabala University of Tasmania On the Evolution of HII regions 2003 Darren Croton Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) Clustering and void statistics of the 2dF galaxy redshift survey 2002 not awarded 2001 Yeshe Fenner Australian National University Solving the Mystery of the Warm Ionised Medium 2000 Josephine Brown Australian National University A photometric morphological and environmental study of the COLA galaxy southern sample 1999 Michael Murphy University of New South Wales Variability of the Fine Structure Constant 1998 Malcolm Kennett University of Sydney Neutrino Emission from a Magnetised Plasma 1997 Jean-Pierre Macquart University of Sydney Radio Propagation through Discrete Structures in the Interstellar Medium 1996 Lisa Kewley University of Adelaide Astrophysical Angular Correlations 1995 Michael Brown University of Melbourne A study of compound chondrule formation in meteorites 1994 Arthur Street University of Sydney Work on acceleration in type II solar radio bursts 1993 Sally Houghton University of New South Wales A study of methanol masers towards Sagittarius B2 1992 Kylie Waring Monash University Photometry of stellar variations 1991 Neal Turner University of Sydney Work on the atmospheres of cool dwarf stars 1990 Robert Reinfrank University of Wollongong A CCD survey of bright southern galaxies 1989 Andrew Gray University of Sydney Solar observations using the Molonglo radio telescope

See also

List of astronomy awards Prizes named after people

References