Dr Chan Man-ho, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences and Associate Professor, Department of Science and Environmental Studies of The Education University of Hong Kong, was awarded an Honourable Mention at the 2024 Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in astrophysics research. It was the second time for Dr Chan’s essay to be selected for an Honourable Mention, after garnering his first accolade six years ago. Notable past winners of this prestigious essay competition include renowned theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking and several Nobel laureates in Physics.

Dr Chan’s award-winning paper presented the first analytic framework by modelling the gravitational influence on the stars orbiting a galactic supermassive black hole (SMBH). It also outlined two distinctive features in terms of changes in stars’ orbits due to gravitational interactions – stellar orbital precession and orbital shrinking. The research findings significantly contributed to further understanding of the unique gravitational environment surrounding the SMBHs.