Edgar Wilson Award
The Edgar Wilson Award is an annual international award established in 1998 consisting of a monetary award and a plaque allocated annually to amateur comet discoverers. It is administered by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory through the IAU's Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams.
Origins
Edgar Wilson was an American businessman who lived in Lexington, Kentucky. After he died in 1976, the Edgar Wilson Charitable Trust Fund was set up and awards were allocated in accordance with the terms of his bequest.Eligibility
Each year the award is divided between amateur astronomers who during that year, using amateur equipment, discover one or more new comets which are then officially named after them. The annual total award is of the order of US$20,000 but fluctuates from year to year. Since 2014 the award was not given, but reestablished in 2024. In any year when there are no eligible discoverers, CBAT makes the award to the amateur astronomer or astronomers it considers "have made the greatest contribution toward promoting an interest in the study of comets".Recipients
Although the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory has awarded the recipients, after 2014 the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams could confirm in 2024 that the awards for the comet discoveries in the period July 2014 – June 2018 had been given.A list of recipients current to 2024:
- 2024
- * Hideo Nishimura, Japan
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Jordi Camarasa, Spain; and Grzegorz Duszanowicz, Sweden
- * Xing Gao and Xi Liao, China; Robson Henrique dos Santos Hahn, Germany
- 2023
- * Alain Maury, Chile; and Georges Attard, France
- * Jost Jahn, Germany
- 2022
- * Hideo Nishimura, Japan
- * Alain Maury, Chile; and Georges Attard, France
- 2021
- * Leonardo S. Amaral, Brazil
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Alain Maury, Chile; and Georges Attard, France
- 2020
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Masayuki Iwamoto, Japan
- * Eduardo Pimentel, Brazil
- * Cristovao Jacques, Eduardo Pimentel, and Joao Barros, Brazil
- 2019
- * Donald Edward Machholz, USA
- * Shigehisa Fujikawa, Japan
- * Masayuki Iwamoto, Japan
- 2018
- * Joao Barros, Brazil
- 2017
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Joao Barros, Brazil
- * Terry Lovejoy, Australia
- * Goran Gasparovic, Croatia
- * Cristovao Jacques, Brazil
- 2016
- * Eduardo Pimentel, Brazil
- * William Kwong Yeung, Canada
- * Leonid Elenin, Russia
- 2015
- * Gao Xing and Sun Guoyou, China
- * Terry Lovejoy, Australia,
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Leonid Elenin, Russia,
- * Michal Kusiak, Michal Zolnowski, Rafal Reszelewski, and Marcin Gedek, Poland
- * Cristovao Jacques, Brazil
- 2014
- * Terry Lovejoy, Australia
- * Michael Schwartz, U.S.
- * Paolo Holvorcem, Brazil
- * Gennadii Borisov, Russia
- * Vitali Nevski, Russia
- * Cristovao Jacques, Brazil
- * Borisov
- * Michel Ory, Switzerland
- * Jacques, Eduardo Pimental, and Joao Barros
- * Matthias Busch and Rafal Reszelewski
- * Holvorcem and Schwartz
- 2013
- * Tomáš Vorobjov, Slovak Republic
- * Paulo Holvorcem, Brazil
- * Masayuki Iwamoto, Japan
- * Claudine Rinner, France
- * Michael Schwartz, Arizona, U.S.
- * Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok, Russia
- 2012
- * Leonid Elenin, Russia
- * Artyom O. Novichonok and Vladimir V. Gerke, Russia
- * Claudine Rinner, France
- * Terry Lovejoy, Australia
- * Manfred Bruenjes, Missouri, U.S.
- 2011
- * Kaoru Ikeya and Shigeki Murakami, Japan
- * Leonid Elenin, Russia
- * Michael Schwartz, Arizona, U.S.; and Paulo Holvorcem, Brazil
- 2010
- * Rui Yang, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China; and Xing Gao, Ürümqi, Xinjiang province, China
- * Donald Machholz, Colfax, CA, U.S.
- * Jan Vales, Idrija, Slovenia
- 2009
- * Robert E. Holmes Jr., Charleston, Illinois, U.S.
- * Stanislav Maticic, Crni Vrh Observatory, Slovenia
- * Michel Ory, Delemont, Switzerland
- * Kōichi Itagaki, Yamagata, Japan
- * Dae-am Yi, Yeongwol-kun, Gangwon-do, Korea
- 2008
- * Tao Chen, Suzhou City, Jiangsu province, China; and Xing Gao, Ürümqi, Xinjiang province, China.
- 2007
- * John Broughton, Reedy Creek, Qld., Australia
- * David H. Levy, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
- * Terry Lovejoy, Thornlands, Qld., Australia
- 2006
- * Charles Wilson Juels, Fountain Hills, Arizona, U.S.;
- * and Paulo R. C. Holvorcem, Campinas, Brazil
- * John Broughton, Reedy Creek, Qld., Australia
- 2005
- * Roy A. Tucker, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
- * Donald Machholz, Colfax, California, U.S.
- 2004
- * Vello Tabur, Wanniassa, A.C.T., Australia
- * William A. Bradfield, Yankalilla, S. Australia
- 2003
- * Sebastian Florian Hoenig, Dossenheim or Heidelberg, Germany
- * Tetuo Kudo, Nishi Goshi, Kikuchi, Kumamoto, Japan
- * Shigehisa Fujikawa, Oonohara, Kagawa, Japan
- * Charles Wilson Juels, Fountain Hills, Arizona, U.S.;
- * and Paulo R. Holvorcem, Campinas, Brazil
- 2002
- * Vance Avery Petriew, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
- * William Kwong Yeung, Benson, Arizona, U.S.
- * Kaoru Ikeya, Mori, Shuchi, Shizuoka, Japan
- * Daqing Zhang, Kaifeng, Henan province, China
- * Douglas Snyder, Palominas, Arizona, U.S.
- * Shigeki Murakami, Matsunoyama, Niigata, Japan
- * Syogo Utsunomiya, Minami-Oguni, Aso, Kumamoto, Japan
- 2001
- * Albert F. A. L. Jones, Stoke, Nelson, New Zealand
- * Syogo Utsunomiya, Minami-Oguni, Aso, Kumamoto, Japan
- 2000
- * Daniel W. Lynn, Kinglake West, Victoria, Australia
- * Korado Korlević, Visnjan, Croatia
- * Gary Hug and Graham E. Bell, Eskridge, Kansas, U.S.
- 1999
- * Peter Williams, Heathcote, N.S.W., Australia
- * Roy A. Tucker, Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
- * Michael Jaeger, Weissenkirchen i.d. Wachau, Austria
- * Justin Tilbrook, Clare, S. Australia
- * Korado Korlevic and Mario Juric, Visnjan, Croatia
- * Steven Lee, Coonabarabran, N.S.W., Australia