2020 Einstein Medal to Federiciana Mariafelicia De Laurentis

It has been called the photo of the century, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York has displayed it in its permanent collection. The image of the supermassive black hole at the center of the distant Messier galaxy M87 has gone around the world and remains fixed in the memory of those who look at it. That is why the Albert Einstein Society in Bern awarded the international Event Horizon Telescope team of scientists the Einstein Medal 2020. This is another great recognition of the work that has featured Mariafelicia De Laurentis, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Naples Federico II.

"This is a great honor and a wonderful recognition of our efforts and achievements as a team, especially for someone like me who has dedicated her scientific career to the study of Einstein's theory," comments De Laurentis.

The medal is scheduled to be presented on May 27, 2020, at 5 p.m. at the University of Bern. A medal that the committee in charge decided to award to the entire team that took the shot, subverting the rule that usually sees it awarded to a single person. An exception that demonstrates the great work done by the team, which to "capture" the black hole and study the phenomenon, used a set of eight radio telescopes strategically placed in different areas of the globe, Europe, the United States and Hawaii, Central and South America, Africa and Asia, creating a virtual radio telescope as large as the Earth, with a resolving power never achieved before.

"This stands to signify that when you work in synergy, sharing the same goal, you can achieve the impossible. I am more and more convinced that a team becomes great when its members stop thinking about the 'I' and start thinking about the 'we,'" the Frederick lecturer continues.

A great achievement and an important contribution to research. Indeed, this observation opens a new era in the study of black holes and the testing of Einstein's general theory of relativity in strong gravitational fields, as explained in the motivations published on the Einstein Prize website when the awarding of the medal was announced.