Jo van den Brand awarded Physicaprijs 2017
The Physicaprijs 2017 has been awarded to Jo van den Brand for his pioneering role in the Netherlands in the search for gravitational waves and, in particular, for his contributions to the revolutionary first direct detection of a gravitational wave in 2015. Jo van den Brand works at Nikhef in Amsterdam and is Professor at the VU University Amsterdam.
During his career Van den Brand has worked across the entire spectrum of subatomic physics: from nuclear physics, via (accelerator-related) particle physics to his current field of astroparticle physics. He not only has a strong technical background, but he is also capable of thoroughly exploring and testing the underlying theories. His talents are highly suitable in the direct detection of gravitational waves, a field that combines a considerable technological challenge with a very broad fundamental physics research programme.
Virgo
In 2007, Jo van den Brand, and with him Nikhef, officially became a member of the Virgo collaboration, which has a laser interferometer with three-kilometre-long arms for the detection of passing gravitational waves near Pisa in Italy. Jo van den Brand's group has acquired a prominent role within the collaboration and crucial parts were provided by Nikhef. Besides their important role with respect to the instrumentation, Van den Brand's group is also strong in data analysis.
Virgo is collaborating closely with the two LIGO laser interferometers in the United States. The LIGO-Virgo Consortium is capable of determining where the gravitational waves originate from based on the time differences in the case of a threefold coincidence. Gravitational waves, ripples in the space-time structure, were predicted by Einstein in 1915. On 14 September 2015, a century after Einstein's protection, the LIGO-Virgo Consortium detected a gravitational wave for the first time.
About the Physicaprijs
The Physicaprijs is awarded each year to an eminent physicist working in the Netherlands. After consultation with various representatives from the physics community in the Netherlands, the prize is awarded by the chairs of the Netherlands' Physical Society and the Stichting Physica. Van den Brand will receive the prize during the FYSICA 2017 Conference that will take place on Friday 7 April in De Oosterpoort in Groningen. He will give the associated Physica lecture at that time.
Van den Brand in het Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde
The April and May 2017 editions of the Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde will contain articles on the work of Jo van den Brand.
Further information about Jo van den Brand
* Winner of the FOM Valorisation Prize 2015
* News release detection gravitational waves (15 June 2016)