Albert Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity celebrated 100 years in 2015, and one of his most fascinating predictions, the existence of black holes, celebrates 100 years in 2016.

Portugal has celebrated these ephemeris in an exemplary manner, by creating the Portuguese Society of Relativity and Gravitation (SPRG) in 2015, which will lead an European network on gravitational waves and black holes.

With the aim of disseminating this scientific area, SPRG established this award intended for young scientists who have contributed to the development of this scientific area and have stood out internationally.

The first edition of this award, named “Prémio Alberto”, in honour of Albert Einstein, was delivered to the researcher Jorge V. Rocha, for his contributions to the study of black holes in different dimensions, including exact solutions, gravitational collapse and cosmic censorship.

This award, which will be granted annually by SPGR, was delivered during the IX Black Hole Workshop, an annual scientific meeting that brings together experts on black holes. This year’s edition took place in Guimarães, from 19th to 20th December.

Jorge V. Rocha is a Portuguese theoretical physicist whose research interests are focused on gravitational theories and black holes. He obtained his degree in Engineering Physics from Instituto Superior Técnico and his PhD in Physics in 2008 from the University of California (Santa Barbara), under the guidance of professor Joseph Polchinski.

He is a Post-Doctoral researcher at Multidisciplinary Centre for Astrophysics (CENTRA) – Instituto Superior Técnico, and since 2015 he is a Marie Curie researcher at University of Barcelona, under the guidance of professor Roberto Emparan.