Françoise Combes, astrophysicist, professor at Collège de France in the Galaxies and Cosmology chair since 2014 and researcher at Observatoire de Paris - PSL, is the winner of the L'Oréal-Unesco International Prize For Women in Science 2021.
She joins Christine Petit, Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Genetics and Cellular Physiology (2001-2020), Claire Voisin, Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Algebraic Geometry (2015-2020) and Edith Heard, Professor at the Collège de France, Chair of Epigenetics and Cellular Memory, winners in 2004, 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Françoise Combes was rewarded for "her remarkable contribution to astrophysics, from the discovery of molecules in interstellar space to supercomputer simulations of galaxy formation. Her work has been crucial to our understanding of the birth and evolution of stars and galaxies, including therole played by supermassive black holes in galactic centers".
The winners of the 23rd International For Women in SciencePrize were announced on International Women in Science Day by the L'Oréal Foundation and Unesco. It honors five eminent women scientists with exceptional careers. Coming from all over the world, they are rewarded for the excellence of their research work in the sciences of matter, mathematics and computer science.
In October 2020, on the occasion of the presentation of the CNRS Gold Medal, Françoise Combes recalled on the Collège de France website the attention she pays to greater parity within the scientific world: " Research demands a lot of work, but also brings a lot of satisfaction, and the joy of discovery. I particularly encourage young women to persevere, as they are often more sensitive to uncertainties about their future and their family ".
According to the latest Unesco Science Report, published on February 11, while the number of women pursuing scientific careers is on the rise, reaching just over 33% of researchers worldwide, this trend is still too slow, particularly in the sciences of matter, mathematics, computer science and engineering.
Since the creation in 1998 of the For Women in Science program by the L'Oréal Foundation and Unesco,117 Laureates and more than 3,500 talented young scientists, doctoral candidates and post-docs, have been supported and honored in 117 countries.
