Top High-Energy Astronomy Prize Awarded for Gamma-Ray Bursts
Contact:
Christopher Wanjek
wanjek@gsfc.nasa.gov
301-286-4453January 21, 2000
Washington, D.C. -- Three of the most well-known persons in astrophysics have won this year's Bruno Rossi Prize, awarded by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for their pioneering work on gamma-ray bursts, daily explosions from deep in space that outshine the entire universe before fading away in as quickly as a few seconds.
Peter Meszaros, Bohdan Paczynski and Martin Rees were awarded the annual prize for their development of theoretical models of gamma ray bursts years before observational scientists had adequate tools to study the phenomena, which represent the most powerful events known in the universe, second only to the Big Bang in total energy.
Peter Meszaros is the Head of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. His research predicted the presence of gamma-ray burst afterglows in X-ray and optical light, which can last days to months longer than the actual burst and are readily observed today.
"It is an honor and a pleasure to be involved in this endeavor with such valued and distinguished friends and colleagues," said Meszaros. "Gamma-ray bursts have been and remain a major puzzle, so the recent observational advances and its interplay with the work of many theorists has been very exciting. But much remains unsolved, and new surprises can be expected from future missions."
Bohdan Paczynski is the Lyman Spitzer Jr. Professor of Astrophysics at Princeton University. He is currently involved with the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Among his many awards are the 1999 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society and the 1997 Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences.
"For several decades now, gamma-ray bursts have been among the most fascinating and most enigmatic events in the Universe," Paczynski said. "Although still a mystery, it is clear that these bursts offer a new probe of the universe at high redshifts, and perhaps they will provide direct evidence of the earliest star formation activity."
Sir Martin Rees is Astronomer Royal for the Royal Observatories of England and a professor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy. A renowned expert on cosmology, Rees has authored more than 400 scientific papers and six books.
"It is a special pleasure to share the Rossi award with two good friends and admired colleagues," said Rees. "We shouldn't forget, however, that the study of gamma-ray bursts is primarily an achievement of observers: Despite the contributions of many theorists, they remain baffling phenomena. The only sure thing is that they involve fascinating and 'extreme' physical processes."
Gamma-ray bursts are one of the hottest topics in astronomy. Most astronomers concede these bursts originate at cosmological distances, billions of light years away, more distant, perhaps, than any light seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Gamma-ray burst origin theories include the merging of two black holes or a "hypernova" -- a giant star explosion 100 times more powerful and the already potent supernova.
Two satellites that will help solve the gamma-ray burst mystery are HETE-2 and Swift. HETE-2, the High Energy Transient Explorer, is an international mission built by MIT and organizations in France and Japan. The launch is planned for May, 2000. Swift, a satellite designed to "swiftly" locate these very brief bursts, is an international collaboration among NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and partners in Italy, Great Britain and the United States. The lead university partner is Pennsylvania State University. The Swift launch is scheduled for 2003.
The High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society awards the Rossi Prize in recognition of significant contributions as well as recent and original work in High Energy Astrophysics. The prize is in honor of Professor Bruno Rossi, an authority of cosmic rays whose experimental techniques at the Los Alamos Laboratory and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology gave birth to the field of X-ray astronomy. The Rossi Prize also includes a $1,500 award.
Meszaros, Paczynski and Rees will present the annual Rossi lecture at the 2001 winter meeting of the AAS, scheduled for January 7-11 in San Diego, California.
CONTACT: Lynn Cominsky Press Officer, High Energy Astrophysics Division (AAS) Deputy Press Officer, American Astronomical Society (Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, California), VOICE: (707) 664-2655 FAX: (800) 848-6369 lynnc@charmian.sonoma.edu
-30-