The Into Change recognizes European research groups that have conducted exceptional and innovative studies at the highest international level, while embodying fundamental scientific values such as curiosity, collaboration, and openness. The first edition of this award was presented to ENGRAVE in recognition of its groundbreaking discoveries at the intersection of physics, cosmology, and astrophysics, including the discovery of the origin of heavy elements during neutron star mergers.
Fundamental questions about the formation of the elements in the periodic table remain unanswered. A major breakthrough came in 2017 with the first-ever observation of the collision of two neutron stars through the emission of gravitational waves, followed by a detailed study of the explosion produced by this event, known as a kilonova. Its characteristics demonstrated that the fusion of neutron stars is a source of heavy elements in the Universe.
Aware that they were on the cusp of a new era in astrophysics, the leading European research groups in this field joined forces in early 2018 to create the ENGRAVE project. Their goal : to coordinate the considerable observational resources needed to capture the rare explosions that give rise to the formation of heavy elements, notably using the telescopes of the European Southern Observatory (ESO), but also the Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.
Promoting interdisciplinary exchanges between physicists and astrophysicists in thirteen European countries (including France), ENGRAVE is now at the forefront of multi-messenger astrophysics : a rapidly growing field that combines the observation of gravitational waves and electromagnetic radiation to understand the most extreme events in the Universe and its chemical enrichment.