2026 ASP Award Recipients
2024 Arthur B.C. Walker II Awardee, Gibor Basri
About the ASP Awards
The ASP recognizes individual achievements in astronomy research, technology, education, and public outreach each year. Recipients of our awards have included luminaries such as Edwin Hubble, Vera Rubin, Isaac Asimov, Margaret Burbidge, Carl Sagan, and most recently, Katherine Johnson.
Our most prestigious award, the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal, was established in 1889 by Catherine Wolfe Bruce, an American philanthropist and patroness of astronomy. The Bruce Gold Medal has been awarded annually by the ASP to a professional astronomer in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding achievement and contributions to astrophysics research and is one of the most important awards in the field.
The 2026 ASP Awards Gala to honor our awardees will be held on Friday, November 6 at the Chabot Space and Science Center. Tickets will be available soon; please stay tuned to our social media and emails for additional info.
Congratulations to the recipients of the 2026 ASP Awards!
Catherine Bruce Gold Medal - Dr. Steve B. Howell | Senior Research Scientist at the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California
Robert J. Trumpler Award - Dr. Jesse Han | Recently received his Doctorate in Astronomy and Physics from Harvard University and is currently a Stanford Science Fellow at Stanford University
Klumpke-Roberts Award - Dr. Alexei Filippenko | Distinguished Professor of Astronomy, University of California at Berkeley; one of only three recipients of the 2026 Gruber Cosmology Prize for his studies of supernovae
Arthur B.C. Walker II Award - Dr. Dara J. Norman | Director of the Community Science & Data Center (CSDC) at the National Science Foundation’s National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab)
Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach Award - Michael Overaker | Retired firefighter and professional photographer; Master Observer, Astronomical League
Richard H. Emmons Award - Michael Reed | Associate Professor, Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Toronto
Maria and Eric Muhlmann Award - Dr. Shelley Adams Wright | Professor in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Department of Physics at University of California, San Diego
About the ASP Annual Awards Gala
Each year the ASP holds an Awards Gala in honor of and to recognize the ASP Awards Recipients for their leadership in and advancement of astronomy and space science.
The 2026 Awards Gala will be held Friday, November 6 at the Chabot Space and Science Center to honor and celebrate those receiving the prestigious ASP Awards. Ticket information to come, please check our social media and ASP Community emails.
Sign up for our Events@ the ASP email for notifications!
