1. Hiranya Vajramani Peiris is a British astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, where she holds the Professorship of Astrophysics.
21 Facts About Hiranya Peiris
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Hiranya Peiris is best known for her work on the cosmic microwave background radiation, and interdisciplinary links between cosmology and high-energy physics.
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Hiranya Peiris was one of 27 scientists who received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2018 for their "detailed maps of the early universe".
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Hiranya Peiris completed the Natural Sciences Tripos at University of Cambridge in 1998, as an undergraduate student of New Hall, Cambridge.
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Hiranya Peiris earned a PhD at Princeton University from the department of astrophysical Sciences with advisor David Spergel, where she first worked on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe.
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In 2009, Hiranya Peiris won a Leverhulme Trust award for cosmology and secured a faculty position at University College London.
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Hiranya Peiris is currently Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.
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Hiranya Peiris was previously the Director of the Oskar Klein Centre for Cosmoparticle Physics at Stockholm University, and a Professor of Astrophysics at University College London.
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WMAP's results on cosmic inflation, which Hiranya Peiris contributed to, were described by Stephen Hawking as "the most exciting development in physics during his career".
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In 2020 Hiranya Peiris was awarded the Goran Gustafsson Prize in physics by the Goran Gustafsson Foundation and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences "for her innovative research on the dynamics of the early universe, which links cosmological observations to basic physics".
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Hiranya Peiris was elected as a member of STFC Council, the senior strategic advisory body of the research council that funds particle physics and astronomy in the United Kingdom.
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In 2021, Hiranya Peiris was awarded the Max Born Medal and Prize by the German Physical Society and the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in recognition of her contributions to cosmology.
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Hiranya Peiris was elected as a Foreign Member in the Physics Class of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in May 2022.
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In 2023, Hiranya Peiris was appointed Professor of Astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge.
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Hiranya Peiris has written articles and given interviews for both radio and print media.
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Hiranya Peiris has appeared on podcasts, television programs and the national news.
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In 2014, the pseudonymously-written Ephraim Hardcastle diary column in the Daily Mail claimed that Hiranya Peiris had been selected to discuss results from the Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization 2 experiment on BBC Newsnight because of her gender and ethnicity.
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Hiranya Peiris offered a rebuttal, "Groundbreaking science is blind to prejudice" in Times Higher Education.
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In 2017, Hiranya Peiris collaborated with artist Penelope Rose Cowley to create artwork entitled "Cosmoparticle".
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In 2018 Hiranya Peiris contributed to an artwork by artist Goshka Macuga, which was exhibited at a 2019 exhibition held at the Bildmuseet, Sweden, featuring works by 14 international artists inspired by particle physics.
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Hiranya Peiris was a member of the 27-person team awarded the 2018 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.