Prof. Pierre Kervella of the Paris Observatory and Prof. Grzegorz Pietrzyński of the M. Kopernik Astronomical Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw have been awarded the Polish-French Marie Skłodowska-Curie and Pierre Curie Scientific Prize by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP) and the French Academy of Sciences for outstanding scientific achievements resulting from Polish-French research cooperation.

According to the FNP, the world-renowned astronomers were awarded for combining complementary experiments in stellar interferometry and observations of binary stars to precisely determine the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud and thus create a reference point for measuring the distance between galaxies to better measure the expansion of the universe.

The Polish-French Science Prize is awarded through a competition every two years. In the 2022 competition, there are 52 nominations. The amount of the prize is €15,000 for each winner.