The third STARMUS festival took place in 2016 in the Canary Islands, on Tenerife and La Palma from June 27 to July 2. The theme of the third festival was: Beyond The Horizon: A Tribute To Stephen Hawking.

As was the case with the previous two festivals, the third STARMUS festival grew in attendance with over 1200 delegates attending. The festival was not lacking presenters either; STARMUS III featured the most high-profile scientists and science communicators in the world, including: Stephen Hawking, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Roger Penrose, Brian Cox, Richard Dawkins, Brian Greene, Kip Thorne, Garik Israelian, Martin Rees, Chris Hadfield, Alexei Leonov, Rusty Schweickart, Jill Tarter, Carolyn Porco, and Joel Parker. The festival also featured Eleven Nobel Prize laureates: David Gross, Joseph Stiglitz, Adam Riess, Brian Schmidt, Robert Wilson, François Englert, Eric Betzig, Carol Greider, Elizabeth Blackburn, Edvard Moser and May-Britt Moser.

The festival closed with the remarkable Sonic Universe Concert featuring Sarah Brightman singing with the Symphonic Orchestra of Tenerife as conducted by Hans Zimmer. The concert also featured performances by Chris Hadfield, Rick Wakeman, Brian May, and Anathema.

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Stephen Hawking Medal winners

Stephen Hawking Medal winners 2016

Beyond The Horizon: A Tribute To Stephen Hawking

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keynote speaker
Hans Zimmer
Composer

I feel truly grateful and deeply honored to be awarded the STARMUS Stephen Hawking Medal in the category of Music and Arts. We artists constantly strive to search for and provoke through new questions in our work. That is one of the links between the arts and the sciences. The constant desire to be part of the adventure of the unknown.

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keynote speaker
Particle Fever
Documentary film

“I’m deeply honored to receive this new award for science communication. I always feel great satisfaction when I hear that someone responded to Particle Fever – the fact that it was Stephen Hawking makes it truly special”. Mark Levinson “It is fantastic to win this medal. Stephen Hawking is a great physicist and great communicator of science, and in both has left an indelible mark on the planet. It is truly an honor.” David E. Kaplan

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keynote speaker
Jim Al-Khalili
Physicist, author and broadcaster

'I am absolutely delighted and honoured to be the very first recipient of the Stephen Hawking medal for science communication, particularly as there are so many great communicators out there these days. This a vindication that practicing research scientists can also be accepted and acknowledged as successful communicators.Like Stephen, I feel strongly that it is both a duty and privilege to share my wonder about the workings of the Universe and our place in it with as wide an audience as possible..'

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