Astronomer and cosmologist Prof. Phillip James E. Peebles and physicist Prof. Barry Barish have been awarded the Copernican Academy Prize. At the Royal Castle in Warsaw, the Minister of Education and Science, Przemyslaw Czarnek, presented for the first time the Copernican Prizes, which are a form of recognition of the achievements of researchers who push the boundaries of previous knowledge of mankind.

Prof. Phillip James E. Peebles received the Copernican Academy Award for his theoretical research that established the field of physical cosmology and laid the foundations of the modern model of the Universe. Professor Barry Barish was awarded the Copernican Prize for his leading contribution to the epoch-making discovery of gravitational waves.

The Copernican Prizes are awarded by the Copernican Academy for outstanding scientific achievements of groundbreaking importance and international scope. Since 2023, the Copernican Academy awards the Prizes annually, consecutively in one of the categories: astronomy, economics, medicine, philosophy or theology or law.