Hamburg Observatory
Hamburg Observatory
Into Change AwardNew European Research Prize Recognises Breakthrough on the Cosmic Origins of Heavy Elements
3 December 2025
Photo: HS/Rosswog
Numerical Relativity supercomputer simulation of two colliding neutron stars. The key aim of these simulations is to predict the gravitational wave signals, the newly forged heavy elements and to understand which electromagnetic flashes they produce.
The elements that form our planet and our bodies originate from cataclysmic collisions between the universe’s most extreme stars. This insight has earned the ENGRAVE collaboration the first ever ‘Into Change Award’.
For decades scientists have asked where gold, platinum and uranium come from. The observations of the ENGRAVE team have provided the most compelling answer to date. Their work has secured them the inaugural European ‘Into Change Award’, worth 1 million Euro, see Tracing the Universe’s heaviest elements.
ENGRAVE has shown how the universe’s heaviest elements are forged in rare and powerful kilonova explosions. These events act as factories for heavy elements that make up about half of the periodic table, including precious metals, rare earths and uranium. In revealing this process the team is shedding light on the very building blocks of both the Earth and humanity.
The ‘Into Change Award’, presented by Minister for Higher Education and Science Christina Egelund, recognises outstanding European research and the values that underpin it: curiosity, collaboration, responsibility, respect and openness.
"This is wonderful news", says Stephan Rosswog, Professor of theoretical astrophysics, at the University of Hamburg and Stockholm University. "For half a century the general consensus was that heavy elements are forged when stars explode as supernovae. Our theoretical work from 1999 on a more “exotic” alternative scenario, the collision of two neutron stars, clearly showed that such collisions must be major sources of the heaviest elements. It is wonderful that the observations of the ENGRAVE collaboration could actually prove that this is true!”, says Stephan Rosswog, member of the ENGRAVE team.
