Ignasi Ribas awarded with the Premi Ciutat de Barcelona

The jury, composed of Maria Garcia-Parajo (president), Carme Rovira, Ramon López de Mántaras, Núria Montserrat and Xavier Obradors, has unanimously awarded the prize to Ignasi Ribas for the work "A candidate super-Earth planet orbiting near the snow line of Barnard's star" published in Nature magazine. This exoplanet is the closest to Earth orbiting around a single star, Barnard's Star, only 6 light years away. Its discovery has been possible thanks to the analysis of 20 years of observations made by an extensive international collaboration that has been led by Dr. Ribas. His discovery will facilitate future studies on how the planets are formed in the Universe, what their characteristics are and even find out if life exists outside our planet.

On Thursday, February 14 at 6 pm, the mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and the City Councilor for Culture, Joan Subirats, will chair the awards ceremony of the Premis Ciutat de Barcelona 2018. The event will take place at the Saló de Cent and will be hosted by actress Àgata Roca.