More than two thousand astronomers from 80 countries have begun today in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) the debates of the XXVII Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (IUA for its acronym in English), which according to forecasts will be less controversial than three years ago years, when Pluto was stripped of the status of a "full-fledged" planet in the Solar System.
During the opening, the names of the winners of this year's Gruber Cosmology Prize were announced , which this time went to astronomers Wendy Freedman (Canada), Robert Kennicutt (USA) and Jeremy Mold. (UK) for their work in helping to establish the age of the Universe . Specifically, as announced by the president of the foundation, Patricia Gruber, the award was assigned to the three astronomers for having made a definitive measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe, which is known as the Hubble constant .
The Assembly, which will run until the 14th of this month, was inaugurated by the president of the IUA, Catherine Cesarky, in a ceremony in which the Brazilian Government was represented by the Minister of Science and Technology Sergio Resende.
