The European Pulsar Timing Array (EPTA) has been honored with two major awards for its groundbreaking work in gravitational wave astronomy. In 2024, the team received the International Congress of Basic Sciences (ICBS) Frontiers of Science Award in China, followed by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) Group Achievement Award in the United Kingdom in 2025.These accolades celebrate the team’s innovative use of pulsar timing to detect low-frequency gravitational waves. The EPTA is a collaborative effort involving scientists from more than ten institutions across Europe. ASTRON is one of the participating organisations in this project with its most sensitive radio telescope including the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope. (WSRT).
Published by the editorial team, 16 January 2025
“These awards highlight the dedication of the entire EPTA team. Our work has the potential to transform our understanding of black holes and spacetime, and this recognition motivates us to continue advancing gravitational wave science”, mentions Aditya Parthasarathy, Lead Researcher and member of the EPTA and IPTA Steering Committee.
The EPTA project, part of the International Pulsar Timing Array (IPTA), uses a network of highly accurate millisecond pulsars to detect nanoHertz gravitational waves—ripples in spacetime caused by massive cosmic events. By precisely timing the signals from these pulsars, the EPTA team can detect tiny fluctuations in spacetime, offering a new way to study the universe’s most extreme phenomena.
The ICBS Frontiers of Science Award, which was awarded also to other international pulsar timing array collaborations to highlight the global effort, recognized the collaborations’ pioneering approach to gravitational wave detection, particularly their ability to probe low-frequency gravitational waves, which traditional detectors cannot observe. This research is crucial for understanding the dynamics of supermassive black hole mergers and the fundamental nature of spacetime.
In the beginning of 2025, the Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award was presented to the EPTA for its exceptional contributions to pulsar timing and gravitational wave astronomy. The award emphasizes the team’s pivotal role in advancing global efforts to detect gravitational waves and their profound impact on astrophysical research.
These two prestigious awards underscore the EPTA‘s significance, and as the project continues to evolve, its research promises to deliver unprecedented insights. ‘’We are excited to continue our work on pulsar timing and gravitational waves and strengthen our first detection,” mentions Gemma Janssen, ASTRON scientist and member of the EPTA steering committee. ASTRON’s contribution to the EPTA was carried out by Gemma Janssen, Aditya Parthasarathy, Emma van der Wateren, Aurélien Chalumeau, and Cees Bassa.