To foster and recognize excellence in astronomy, the AAS presents awards and prizes for outstanding contributions to astronomical research, instrumentation, writing, and service.
2019 Award Recipients
Ann Merchant Boesgaard
Henry Norris Russell Lectureship
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In recognition of her pioneering, sustained work in using light-element abundances to test Big Bang nucleosynthesis and to probe stellar structure and stellar evolution.
Edwin (Ted) Bergin
Dannie Heineman Prize
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For his pioneering work in astrochemistry and innovative contributions to our understanding of the physics and chemistry of star and planet formation, and for his tireless efforts to improve diversity and inclusion in astronomy.
Blakesley Burkhart
Annie Jump Cannon Award
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For her leadership in studies of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence on all scales and in diverse astrophysical environments, using innovative techniques to carefully compare observational data with numerical simulations, guided by analytic theory, to improve our understanding of turbulence in the universe.
Jo Bovy
Helen B. Warner Prize
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For his contributions to our understanding of the structure and dynamics of the Milky Way and his work on forward modeling of large scientific data sets.
Daniel R. Weisz
Newton Lacy Pierce Prize
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For his transformational work on the star-formation histories of dwarf galaxies in the Local Group.
John D. Monnier
Joseph Weber Award
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For his pioneering work in high-angular-resolution studies with long-baseline optical interferometry, which have moved the field from measurements in visibility space to true imaging and opened up a new window on stellar astrophysics.
David Branch
Chambliss Writing Award
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For their scholarly book Supernova Explosions (Springer, 2017), an extraordinary compilation of information that is logically organized, benefits from clear and engaging writing, and features terrific insights of the kind you'd hope for from a mentor.
J. Craig Wheeler
Chambliss Writing Award
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For their scholarly book Supernova Explosions (Springer, 2017), an extraordinary compilation of information that is logically organized, benefits from clear and engaging writing, and features terrific insights of the kind you'd hope for from a mentor.
Mario Hamuy
Honorary AAS Membership
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Chile plays a huge role in US astronomy, and Hamuy has made fundamental contributions to cosmology and supernova research. He is currently the president of CONICYT (the Chilean science funding agency).
Gregory Laughlin
Kavli Foundation Lectureship
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For his innovative leadership in detecting and modeling exoplanets and their formation, protostellar disks, the interstellar visitor ‘Oumuamua, and the distant future of the universe.
Elena Aprile
Lancelot M. Berkeley – NYCT Prize
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For her leadership of the XENON project and its groundbreaking search for the particle that is thought to make up the dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way Galaxy.