IMPRS A&A alumnus Jonah Wagenveld from MPIfR Bonn is awarded the Doctoral Thesis Prize for his outstanding PhD thesis, titled “Testing Large-Scale Cosmology with MeerKAT” at the MPIfR. He graduated with summa cum laude in 2024. Central to his work was the study of the cosmic radio dipole—an anisotropy in the distribution of radio sources that mirrors the dipole seen in the cosmic microwave background. He developed novel techniques for measuring the radio dipole in large radio surveys to the highest degree of precision to date. Using data of the MeerKAT radio telescope, he carried out meticulous calibration and data processing to allow for a measurement of the dipole using fainter radio sources than ever before. His results revealed a significant discrepancy in the amplitude of the cosmic dipole when derived from radio sources compared to the cosmic microwave background, suggesting a possible challenge to the cosmological principle (Press Release of the Astronomische Gesellschaft, August 14, 2025).
