Roger Blandford is an astrophysicist who is widely recognised for his contributions to the study of black holes. Roger has also contributed to the study of astrophysical particle acceleration and gravitational lensing.

His many achievements include the discovery of how energy is extracted from a rotating black hole, now referred to in his honour as the Blandford–Znajek process. Perpetually attracted by the great cosmic questions, Roger has studied a wide variety of phenomena crucial to understanding the Universe’s structure and evolution.

The first Director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology, Roger is regularly acknowledged for his pioneering theoretical work. He has received both the Eddington Medal and the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society, the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics of the American Astronomical Society, and in 2011 was the recipient of the Humboldt Foundation’s prestigious Humboldt Research Award.