Conny Aerts

Conny Clara Aerts is a Belgian professor in astrophysics. Aerts studied mathematics at Antwerp University and completed her PhD in astrophysics in 1993 at KU Leuven. She was independent Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) from 1993 to 2001, spending research time at various institutes worldwide, while also acting as advocate for equal opportunities for women in science. She was appointed lecturer at KU Leuven in 2001 and completed the promotion path to full professor by 2007. Conny Aerts was awarded two Advanced Grants and a Synergy Grant by the ERC. She became the first woman to be awarded the Belgian Francqui Prize (2012) and the FWO Excellence Prize (2020) in the category of Science & Technology. In 2022, she became the third woman to be awarded the Kavli Prize in Astrophysics for her pioneering work and leadership in asteroseismology. In 2024 she won the Crafoord Prize in Astronomy for developing methods of asteroseismology and their application to the study of rotating stars.