Meet Julian Shapiro, the 18-year-old New Yorker who discovered three unusual dwarf galaxies while still in high school, became sole author of an Astrophysical Journal paper and won a $25,000 Davidson Fellowship

The galaxies, now catalogued as Shapiro Dwarf Galaxies I, II and III, share an unusual combination of characteristics. They are small, relatively isolated from other galaxies and, most importantly, appear to have stopped forming stars.

Some astronomical discoveries begin with powerful telescopes pointed at distant corners of the universe. Others begin much closer to home, with a teenager willing to spend hours combing through publicly available data and asking why something does not quite fit the expected picture. For Julian Shapiro, that curiosity led to three peculiar dwarf galaxies, an Astrophysical Journal paper with his name alone on it and recognition as a 2026 Davidson Fellow, states the latest report by Berkeley News. Now an undergraduate astrophysics student at UC Berkeley, the 18-year-old New Yorker made the discovery while still in high school. Scroll down to read his story of talent.

Three galaxies that broke the pattern

The galaxies, now catalogued as Shapiro Dwarf Galaxies I, II and III, share an unusual combination of characteristics. They are small, relatively isolated from other galaxies and, most importantly, appear to have stopped forming stars, states the report. If we go by the Berkeley News report, dwarf galaxies in sparsely populated regions of space are generally expected to retain the cold gas required to create new stars. By contrast, quenched dwarf galaxies, those that have effectively switched off their star-making activity are more commonly found close to massive galaxies. There, gravitational and hydrodynamic forces can strip away the gas that fuels star formation. Shapiro’s three discoveries appear to sit in the wrong neighbourhood for their condition, the report claims.

The backsplash galaxy theory

One possible explanation is that the galaxies were not always as isolated as they appear today. According to the report, Shapiro’s research suggests they could be examples of so-called backsplash galaxies. These are dwarf galaxies that once travelled close to a much larger galaxy, passed through its gravitational environment and lost much of their star-forming gas before being propelled back into a more distant region of space.The Pinwheel Galaxy, also known as Messier 101, is considered the leading candidate for the massive host that may have interacted with the newly identified dwarfs, the online report adds.A second possibility applies particularly to Shapiro Dwarf Galaxy II. Its position near the spiral galaxy NGC 5585 leaves open the possibility that it could actually be a faint satellite rather than a backsplash galaxy. Either scenario could help explain how galaxies that appear isolated today became unable to form new stars.

Testing a long-standing prediction

The discovery has implications beyond three unusual objects, adds the report. The standard cosmological model, known as Lambda-CDM, predicts that backsplash galaxies should exist in significant numbers. Finding convincing examples in the nearby universe, however, has proved difficult. Shapiro used simulations to estimate where such galaxies should be found around a Milky Way-like galaxy and where existing telescope archives would be capable of detecting them. He then developed methods for identifying potential candidates and assessing whether their apparent isolation was genuine.A significant portion of the work involved estimating distances. Without accurate measurements, a galaxy that appears isolated could simply be much farther away from Earth than its apparent neighbours. And follow-up observations using high-resolution space telescopes could help establish the galaxies’ precise locations and determine whether their unusual lack of star formation is indeed the result of a past encounter.

From high school to Berkeley

What makes the discovery particularly striking is when it happened. Shapiro conducted the research while still in high school, before beginning his undergraduate studies at Berkeley. His work has now earned him the 2026 Davidson Fellowship, which carries a $25,000 award, as well as the Astronomical League’s National Young Astronomer Award in 2025. As per the report, at Berkeley, he is pursuing astrophysics alongside mathematics and physics coursework. He has also joined the research group of renowned astronomer Alex Filippenko; his next projects include investigating the Hubble tension, the continuing disagreement over how quickly the universe is expanding.Images Courtesy: Berkeley News