A Nobel laureate’s reflections on Einstein won over the committee, while students chose a history of astrophysics told in five revolutions.
The third French edition of the Prix Cosmos was celebrated on 26 May at the Institut de France in Paris.
The scientific committee chose Si Einstein avait su by Alain Aspect, Nobel Prize in Physics 2022, whose experiments on quantum entanglement settled a debate Einstein had started. High-school students from France, Switzerland and Belgium chose Aux frontières du cosmos by astrophysicist Ersilia Vaudo, a journey through the five revolutions that shaped our picture of the universe.
Both authors received their trophies in the presence of the committee and a delegation of students.
The winning books
- Prix Cosmos du comité: Si Einstein avait su, Alain Aspect (Odile Jacob)
- Cosmos des lycéens: Aux frontières du cosmos. Une histoire de l’astrophysique en cinq révolutions, Ersilia Vaudo, translated by Anatole Muchnik (Quanto)
Also shortlisted: Jean-Pierre Escofier, Mesurer la Terre (Dunod); Christophe Galfard, La vie à portée de main (Albin Michel); Marco Malvaldi, L’Architecte de l’invisible, translated by Sophie Lem (Albin Michel); Matteo Barsuglia, Les Vagues de l’espace-temps (Dunod); Françoise Combes, Petite histoire de la cosmologie (CNRS Éditions); Marcel Salathé, IA, comment ne pas perdre le Nord ? (Quanto).
Alain Aspect and Ersilia Vaudo. Photo: Mathieu Baumer
