Academic Jaan Einasto awarded the UT Grand Medal

Academic and astronomer Jaan Einasto will turn 90 on 23 February. Before his birthday, the University of Tartu Senate recognised Jaan Einasto's exceptional scientific contribution by awarding him the Great Medal. Rector Toomas Asser will present the medal on 21 February at a festive dinner organised for the international symposium held to honour Einasto.

Jaan Einasto is one of the discoverers of dark matter and the cosmic web. He researches the makeup and development of the universe, including the structure and dynamics of galactic systems and galaxies. Einasto has published more than 300 research papers during his career and written several books.

Jaan Einasto was born on 23 February 1929 in Tartu. He graduated from Tartu Secondary School no. 1 and studied at the University of Tartu from 1947 to 1952. After graduation, Einasto began working as a research fellow at the Tartu Observatory (back then the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the Academy of Sciences). Einasto is currently working at the UT Observatory's Department of Physics of Galaxies and Cosmology as a scientific advisor and continues publishing papers in international scientific journals.

Einasto has been a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences since 1981. He has been awarded several national research awards, the 2nd Class Badge of the Order of the National Coat of Arms , the Marcel Grossmann Award, the Viktor Ambartsumjan Prize and the Gruber Cosmology Prize. Einasto is an Honorary Doctor at both the University of Tartu and University of Turku. He is an Honorary Citizen of Tartu.

An international symposium  "Einasto's profile" is held from 20–22 February in Tartu and Tõravere to celebrate academic Jaan Einasto's birthday. A festive dinner is held on 21 February at 17.00 in the White Hall of the university museum.

More information: Antti Tamm, Senior Research Fellow at the UT Department of Physics of Galaxies and Cosmology, Organiser of the Symposium, 5699 6693, 737 4531, antti.tamm@ut.ee