# Bok Prize

The Bok Prize is awarded annually by the Astronomical Society of Australia and the Australian Academy of Science to recognise outstanding research in astronomy by honoring a student at an Australian university. The prize consists of the Bok Medal together with an award of $1000 and ASA membership for the following year.

## History

The prize is named to commemorate the energetic work of Bart Bok in promoting the undergraduate and graduate study of astronomy in Australia, during his term (1957–1966) as Director of the Mount Stromlo Observatory.

## Past winners

Source: Astronomical Society of Australia
| Year | Winner | University | Awarded for |
| 2024 | Sophie Young | University of Tasmania | Free-free Absorption in Young Radio Galaxies |
| 2023 | William McDonald | The University of Western Australia | Dissociation of Dark Matter and Gas in Cosmic Large-scale Structure |
| 2022 | Maria Djuric | University of Sydney | It looks like the Milky Way is a giant Swiss roll |
| 2021 | Madeleine McKenzie | The University of Western Australia | Simulating the Formation of Multiple Stellar Populations in Globular Clusters |
| 2020 | James Beattie | Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) | Supersonic Turbulent Molecular Clouds: Filaments and Anisotropies |
| 2019 | Sam Cree | University of Queensland | Can the fluctuations of the Quantum Vacuum Solve the Cosmological Constant Problem? |
| 2018 | Matthew Keen | University of Sydney | Asteroseismology of Subgiant Stars: A Study of Mixed-Mode Oscillations |
| 2017 | Madeline Marshall | University of Tasmania | Triggering Active Galactic Nuclei in Galaxy Clusters |
| 2016 | Samuel Hinton | University of Queensland | Extraction of Cosmological Information from WiggleZ |
| 2015 | Cleo Loi | University of Sydney | Waves in the sky: Probing the ionosphere with the Murchison Widefield Array |
| 2014 | Ross Turner | University of Tasmania | Evolution of radio-loud Active Galactic Nuclei |
| 2013 | Ben Pope | University of Sydney | Dancing in the Dark: Kernel Phase Interferometry of Ultracool Dwarfs |
| 2012 | Alison Hammond | University of Sydney | Cosmic Magnetism: Faraday Rotation as a Probe of Extragalactic Magnetic Fields |
| 2011 | Barnaby Norris | University of Sydney | A study of AGB circumstellar dust shells using optical polarimetric interferometry |
| 2010 | Madusha Gunawardhana | Macquarie University/AAO | Constraints on the Evolution of the Stellar Initial Mass Function |
| 2009 | Peter Jensen | University of Queensland | The Colours of Galaxies in Intermediate X-ray Luminosity Galaxy Clusters |
| 2008 | Christopher Hales | University of Sydney | Cosmic Forensics: A study of the Pulsar Wind Nebula G359.1-23, The Mouse |
| 2007 | Katie Dodds-Eden | Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) | TeVeS Theory and observational tests. |
| 2006 | Brent Miszalski | Macquarie University | Simulated Annealing and Optimisation of 2dF Fibre Configuration |
| 2005 | Patrick Scott | Australian National University | CO spectral line formation in the sun: convective simulation, line profiles and isotopic abundances |
| 2004 | Stanislav Shabala | University of Tasmania | On the Evolution of HII regions |
| 2003 | Darren Croton | Australian National University Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics (RSAA) | Clustering and void statistics of the 2dF galaxy redshift survey |
| 2002 | not awarded | | |
| 2001 | Yeshe Fenner | Australian National University | Solving the Mystery of the Warm Ionised Medium |
| 2000 | Josephine Brown | Australian National University | A photometric morphological and environmental study of the COLA galaxy southern sample |
| 1999 | Michael Murphy | University of New South Wales | Variability of the Fine Structure Constant |
| 1998 | Malcolm Kennett | University of Sydney | Neutrino Emission from a Magnetised Plasma |
| 1997 | Jean-Pierre Macquart | University of Sydney | Radio Propagation through Discrete Structures in the Interstellar Medium |
| 1996 | Lisa Kewley | University of Adelaide | Astrophysical Angular Correlations |
| 1995 | Michael Brown | University of Melbourne | A study of compound chondrule formation in meteorites |
| 1994 | Arthur Street | University of Sydney | Work on acceleration in type II solar radio bursts |
| 1993 | Sally Houghton | University of New South Wales | A study of methanol masers towards Sagittarius B2 |
| 1992 | Kylie Waring | Monash University | Photometry of stellar variations |
| 1991 | Neal Turner | University of Sydney | Work on the atmospheres of cool dwarf stars |
| 1990 | Robert Reinfrank | University of Wollongong | A CCD survey of bright southern galaxies |
| 1989 | Andrew Gray | University of Sydney | Solar observations using the Molonglo radio telescope |