AAS Member Awarded Medal from German Astronomical Society

This post is adapted from a German Astronomical Society press release.

The German Astronomical Society (AG) announced this week that the 2016 Karl Schwarzschlid Medal, the most prestigious astronomy prize in Germany, will be awarded to AAS member Robert Williams, astronomer emeritus at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). In the announcement the AG stated, "In Robert Williams the AG honors not only an outstanding scientist, but also a man with a dedication to scientific training and astronomical outreach. His name is inseparably linked to the most celebrated observation target of the Hubble Space Telescope: the famous Hubble Deep Field."

Williams studied and worked at the University of California and the University of Wisconsin before joining the faculty at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where he stayed until 1983. His other positions include one-year at the headquarters of the European Southern Observatory (ESO) in Garching, Germany. Williams directed the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile from 1985 to 1993, then moved to the STScI, where he has served as director, distinguished research scholar, and now, astronomer emeritus. Williams also served as an AAS Vice-President from 2000 to 2003 and president of the International Astronomical Union from 2009 to 2012. He presented the Kavli Foundation Plenary Lectureship at the 223rd AAS meeting, and has received numerous other honors and awards, including the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal and the 1998 AAS Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize. Read more about Williams's work in the AG press release.

This award is named after the German physicist and astronomer Karl Schwarzschlid (1863–1916), a pioneer of modern astrophysics, and previous recipients include five Nobel laureates. The AG will present the medal to Williams on 13 September during the opening ceremony of its annual conference.