We are pleased to announce that the 2023 Giulio Rampa Thesis Prize for outstanding research in General Relativity has been awarded to Dr. Elisa Maggio.
The Committee consisting of Profs. Lars Andersson, Mauro Carfora, Gerhard Huisken, Luciano Rezzolla, and Fulvio Ricci prepared the following laudation:
“…Dr. Maggio’s Ph. D. thesis, Probing new physics on the horizon of black holes with gravitational waves, offers a comprehensive and brilliant overview of the phenomenology of exotic compact objects and their connection to testing gravity with gravitational wave observations. Her thesis work is unique in broadness, novelty, and combination of conceptual, technical, numerical, and phenomenological results, providing an outstanding example of original, bold research at the interface between gravitational-wave astronomy and General Relativity. Elisa Maggio is an outstanding scholar emerging as an excellent and active young scientist in gravitational wave astronomy, among the best early-career scientists of her generation. We will look at her work as foundational in the field, allowing us to probe physics beyond our reach just a few years ago….”
In recognition of the high quality of the nominations received, the Committee has also decided to award an honorable mention to the outstanding Ph.D. research carried out by Gabriele Benomio in the Thesis “The wave equation on black rings and the linear stability of slowly rotating Kerr spacetimes.”
The prize is sponsored by The University of Pavia and by the Italian Society for Relativity and Gravitational Physics (SIGRAV) to honor the memory of Giulio Rampa. It is given to a graduate student every two years for outstanding research in general relativity. The prize was established in 2011 and is endowed under the terms of a donation from Nadia and Giorgio Rampa.
Each GRT prize carries a certificate and a net check for EUR 2,000. The prizes will be presented to Elisa Maggio at the 25th edition of the “Italian Society for General Relativity and Gravitation (SIGRAV) Conference” that will be held at SISSA (Trieste), Italy, on 4-8 September 2023. This biennial conference is devoted to all aspects of gravitational physics. The Rampa Prize winner will present her work during a special conference session.