Astrophysicist Paz Biniamini from the Open University of Israel on Tuesday became the first scholar in the Ra’anana-based institution’s 52-year history to receive Israel’s prestigious $100,000 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists.

Biniamini, 41, is an associate professor of physics and head of the Astrophysics Research Center at the Open University (ARCO), and an adjunct research professor at George Washington University in the United States.

Biniamini told The Times of Israel that his research focuses on “some of the most extreme environments in nature,” where particles can be accelerated to close to the speed of light and magnetic fields may be 100 trillion times greater than those on Earth.

He was recognized in physics for studying “the universe’s most energetic phenomena, transforming our understanding of fast radio bursts, gamma-ray bursts, and highly magnetized neutron stars,” according to a statement released Monday ahead of the awards.

Biniamini was one of three Israeli scientists named as Blavatnik laureates this year. The other two honorees were Sergey N. Semenov, a chemist at the Weizmann Institute of Science, and Uri Ben-David, a cancer biologist at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Life Sciences.

The awards were presented by the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, and the New York Academy of Sciences at the Peres Center for Peace & Innovation in Tel Aviv-Jaffa.

The astrophysicist said the Open University had played “an important part” in his work.

Founded in 1974, the university has an open admission policy based on the principles of equal opportunity and the narrowing of socioeconomic disparities, according to the university’s website.

After Biniamini received the award, The Times of Israel spoke to him via video call about Israel’s contributions to the field of astrophysics, the impact of widespread academic boycotts against the Jewish state, and his hope for the future of Israeli science.

The following conversation was edited for length.

The Times of Israel: What got you interested in astrophysics?

Paz Biniamini: I was always interested in science in general as a kid. Maybe like many kids, I was interested in dinosaurs more than anything else. My mother, who is from England, said that as a kid walking around the Natural History Museum in London, I used to give impromptu talks to strangers about dinosaurs.

My grandfather was very interested in science, but he never had the chance to go........

© The Times of Israel