2025
Maaike van Kooten
Dr. Maaike van Kooten awarded prestigious New Horizons in Physics Prize
2025
Dr. Maaike van Kooten awarded prestigious New Horizons in Physics Prize
“Dr. Maaike van Kooten was awarded the prestigious 2025 New Horizons in Physics Prize by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation. She shares the honour with Dr. Rebecca Jensen-Clem (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Dr. Sebastiaan Haffert (Leiden University) for their work demonstrating new adaptive optics techniques that will allow for the direct detection of the smallest exoplanets. This prize is awarded by the Breakthrough Foundation to early-career researchers who have already produced important work.
“Being awarded this prize feels a bit surreal. I never thought about being nominated, let alone winning,” says Dr. van Kooten, a research officer with the NRC’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre (HAA). “I was fortunate to have a very productive and positive postdoctoral experience working with Dr. Rebecca Jensen-Clem, who gave me incredible opportunities that made this research possible. I look back on those 2 years and am still amazed by the work we did during on-sky testing of our new technologies.”
Published by National Research Council Canada
