The Paris Observatory - PSL is delighted to honor Françoise Combes, who has been awarded the L’Oréal-UNESCO "Europe" Prize for Women in Science for her entire career.
Astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory - PSL at the Laboratory for the Study of Radiation and Matter in Astrophysics and Atmospheres (LERMA), member of the Academy of Sciences since 2004, Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Galaxies and Cosmology since 2014, Gold Medalist of the CNRS in 2020, Françoise Combes is today the winner of the prestigious international prize.

Françoise Combes’ research focuses on the formation and evolution of galaxies : from their dynamics to their structure, as well as the interactions between them, through direct observations but also numerical simulations using supercomputers.

His work has helped to understand the relationship between the shape of galaxies and their history, and thus to decode the different stages of galaxy growth throughout the history of the Universe.
Alongside Françoise Combes, four other exceptional women are rewarded : Pr Jane Catherine Ngila (Kenya), Pr Kyoko Nozaki (Japan), Pr Shafi Goldwasser (United States), Pr Alicia Dickenstein (Argentina).

	AFRICA AND ARAB STATES Professor Catherine NGILA - Chemistry Acting Executive Director of the African Academy of Sciences, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs (DVC-AA) at the University of Riara, Kenya, and Visiting Professor of Applied Chemistry at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Awarded for the introduction and development of nanotechnology-based analytical methods for the monitoring of water pollutants and their application in highly polluted countries. Her innovative work is of vital importance for the development of environmentally sustainable water resource management.
	ASIA AND PACIFIC Professor Kyoko NOZAKI - Chemistry Professor at the Department of Engineering, University of Tokyo, Japan. Rewarded for her pioneering, creative and innovative industrial contributions in the field of synthetic chemistry. Her work has led to new, high-performance and environmentally friendly production processes for the manufacture of molecules useful in medicine and sustainable agriculture.
	NORTH AMERICA Professor Shafi GOLDWASSER - Computer Science Director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of California Berkeley, RSA Security Inc. Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA, and Professor of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at the Weizmann Institute, Israel. Rewarded for her pioneering and fundamental work in computer science and cryptography, which is essential for the security of Internet communications systems as well as for shared computing on private data. His research has had a considerable impact on our understanding of many categories of problems for which computers cannot effectively find even approximate solutions.
	EUROPE Professor Françoise COMBES - Astrophysics Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Galaxies and Cosmology since 2014 and Astrophysicist at Paris Observatory - PSL, France. Rewarded for her remarkable contribution in astrophysics, from the discovery of molecules in outer space to supercomputer simulations of galaxy formation. His work has been crucial for our understanding of the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies, including the role played by supermassive black holes in galactic centers.
	LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Professor Alicia DICKENSTEIN - Mathematics Professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Rewarded for her outstanding work at the forefront of mathematical innovation, exploiting algebraic geometry in the field of molecular biology. Her research allows us to understand the precise structures and behaviors of molecules and cells, even at a microscopic scale. Operating at the frontier between pure and applied mathematics, she has forged important links with physics and chemistry and has enabled biologists to acquire a structural understanding of the molecular structure of molecules and cells. in-depth study of biochemical reactions and enzyme networks.

**February 11, 2021 : A Day of Celebration] The honoring of Françoise Combes is an opportunity for PSL University to celebrate its researchers on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

At her invitation, the eleven institutions that make up the University highlight their women researchers and engineers who, all generations combined, are advancing science.

The Paris Observatory participates in this coordinated operation.
On February 11, 2021, discover the daily life of astrophysics, through the testimonies of :

• Margaux Abello, President of the BDE of the Paris Observatory - PSL,
• Pernelle Bernardi, systems engineer and responsible for the specifications and performance of SuperCam, the instrument that equips the NASA rover.
• Fabienne Casoli, President of the Paris Observatory - PSL

The entire campaign is to be found on the twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn accounts of PSL and its component establishments with the hashtag : #EllesFontPSL

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)