Paz Beniamini

2026 Israel Award Winner — Faculty

Paz Beniamini

Current Position:
Associate Professor, Department of Natural Sciences

Institution:
Open University of Israel

Discipline:
Astrophysics & Cosmology

Recognized for: Groundbreaking theoretical and observationally motivated research studying the universe’s most energetic phenomena, transforming our understanding of fast radio bursts, gamma-ray bursts, and highly magnetized neutron stars.

Areas of Research Interest and Expertise:
Fast Radio Bursts, Gamma Ray Bursts, Compact binary systems, Magnetars, R-process Nucleosynthesis

Previous Positions:

  • BsC, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
  • PhD, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Advisor: Tsvi Piran)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (Advisor: R. Mochkovitch)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, George Washington University (Advisor: C. Kouveliotou)
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, California Institute of Technology (Advisor: E. S. Phinney)

Research Summary:
Paz Beniamini, PhD, investigates some of the universe’s most extreme and energetic phenomena, uncovering the physical processes that shape high-energy astrophysics, from bursts of radiation to violent stellar explosions and cosmic mergers. By combining theoretical models with cutting-edge observations, this research explains a myriad of astrophysical behaviors, from how jets of material move through space to how stars explode and merge to generate radiation bursts, heavy elements, and gravitational waves that ripple across the universe. Beniamini’s discoveries are transforming the understanding of the universe’s most dynamic events and revealing the fundamental processes that drive the cosmos at its most extreme.

“My work aims to uncover the hidden rules and patterns behind some of the universe’s most intense flashes of energy. I am deeply grateful to the Blavatnik Award for recognizing this work, and to my collaborators for their invaluable support.”

Key Publications:

  1. Kumar, P., Beniamini, P., Gupta, O., Cordes, J. M. Constraining the FRB mechanism from scintillation in the host galaxy. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2023.
  2. Beniamini, P., Wadiasingh, Z., Hare, J., Rajwade, K. M., Younes, G., van der Horst, A. J. Evidence for an abundant old population of Galactic ultra-long period magnetars and implications for fast radio bursts. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2023.
  3. Beniamini, P., Piran, T. Ultrafast Compact Binary Mergers. The Astrophysical Journal, 2024.
  4. Beniamini, P., Kumar, P., Narayan, R. Faraday depolarization and induced circular polarization by multipath propagation with application to FRBs. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 2021.

Other Honors:

2021-2019 Moore Postdoctoral Prize
2016 Chateaubriand Fellowship

In the Media:

Website