Reinhard Genzel receives honorary doctorate by University Grenoble
On 12 October 2023, Reinhard Genzel received the honorary degree of Doctor Honoris Causa from Université Grenoble Alpes for the excellence of his research and his links with Grenoble Alpes University.
The title of Doctor Honoris Causa is one of the most prestigious distinctions awarded by French universities. This honorary title has been awarded since 1918 “to personalities of foreign nationality for outstanding services rendered to the arts, letters, sciences and techniques, to France or to the institution which awards the title”.
Professor Reinhard Genzel received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2020 for the discovery of a super-massive compact object at the center of our galaxy. He is a world-renowned researcher, notably in the astrophysics of active galactic nuclei, massive black holes and experimental infrared, submillimeter and millimeter astronomy.
For more than 30 years, he has been a member of the Executive Board of the Institut de Radio-Astronomie Millimétrique (IRAM), and has played a key role in the development of this observatory. In particular, he strongly promoted the NOEMA (NOrthern Extended Millimeter Array) project located on the plateau de Bure, South of Grenoble, and inaugurated in 2022. His group has collaborated closely for many years with researchers at the Institut de Planétologie et d’Astrophysique de Grenoble (CNRS, UGA) on the development of the near-infrared instruments NACO, GRAVITY, and its successor GRAVITY+.
