Laurent Loinard

Laurent Loinard is Professor of Astronomy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. His research focuses on the formation and youth of stellar systems, the interstellar medium and its chemistry, and the environment of supermassive black holes. He is known for the determination of ultra-precise distances and masses of young stars using radio interferometry techniques.  

He is a member of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) consortium, which recently published the first images of the black holes at the centers of the Messier 87 galaxy and our own Milky Way. There, he chaired the Publication Committee that oversaw the editing and review of the first EHT M87 results published in 2019 and 2021.  

Laurent has published over 200 research articles and mentored many students, one of whom won the International Astronomical Union 2017 PhD Prize for the best doctoral thesis in fundamental astronomy.  

He received many accolades, including a Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship in 2010, the Bessel Prize from the von Humboldt Foundation in 2011, and the 2022 Prize of The World Academy of Science (TWAS). As a member of the Event Horizon Telescope, he is also co-recipient of the Breakthrough 2020 Prize in Fundamental Physics, the 2020 Einstein Medal, and the 2021 Group Award from the Royal Astronomical Society of the United Kingdom.