Simon Blouin receives the 2021 Academic Medal from the Governor General

Simon Blouin was awarded the 2021 Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal for excellence in his record during his graduate studies at the Université de Montréal. Simon completed his MSc and PhD studies under the supervision of Professor Patrick Dufour. In 2019, he brilliantly defended his doctoral thesis on modeling the atmospheres of cool white dwarf stars. During his work he used theoretical techniques conventionally used in plasma physics and condensed matter physics to improve the accuracy of models.

The Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) and the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC) awarded the J.S Plaskett Medal to Simon Blouin for the best doctoral thesis in astrophysics in Canada. He also received the prize for the best thesis from the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies of the Université de Montréal as well as an excellence award in astrophysics from the “Stars and Stellar Physics” division of the International Astronomical Union (IAU).  Since July 2019, Simon is a Director’s Postdoc Fellow at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

The Centre for research in astrophysics of Quebec (CRAQ) warmly congratulates Simon Blouin for this honor.

About the Governor General’s Academic Medal

Lord Dufferin, Canada’s third Governor General after Confederation, created the Academic Medals in 1873 to encourage academic excellence across the nation. Over the years, they have become the most prestigious award that students in Canadian schools can receive. They are awarded to the student graduating with the highest average from a high school, as well as from approved college or university programs.

Source:
Robert Lamontagne
Centre de recherche en astrophysique du Québec
Phone : (438) 495-3482