AAS Members Win American Physical Society Prizes

The American Physical Society (APS) announced the recipients of its Spring 2020 prizes and awards, as well as its 2019 Apker Award and Nicholson Medal, in October 2019, and five AAS members are among those honored. But word didn't reach us here at the AAS until now. So here we wish belated congratulations to the following AAS members recognized for their achievements by the APS:

• Fiona Harrison (California Institute of Technology): 2020 Hans A. Bethe Prize for pioneering work in conceiving and executing the first focusing telescope in the high-energy X-ray regime, NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) satellite. NuSTAR has enabled major advances in understanding phenomena in the most extreme environments in the universe.
• Tali Khain (University of Michigan): 2019 LeRoy Apker Award for original contributions to understanding the outer solar system, including characterizing the dynamical properties of hundreds of new objects in the Kuiper Belt; establishing the orbital stability of a new dwarf planet; and investigating the effects of a hypothesized distant new planet.
• Adam Frank (University of Rochester): 2020 Joseph A. Burton Forum Award for multi-channel promotion of public understanding of physics, of science in general, and of the relationship between science and society, using methods and venues that effectively engage and provoke discussion among policy makers, scientists, and the public regarding important issues.
• Elisabeth Krause (University of Arizona): 2020 Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for contributions to theoretical cosmology and astrophysics, in particular, pioneering approaches to modeling key observables and extracting cosmological constraints from large galaxy surveys.
• Lucy Fortson (University of Minnesota): 2019 Dwight Nicholson Medal for Outreach for extraordinary work in bringing the excitement and discovery of scientific research to the public through her leadership of the Zooniverse project.

Note to all AAS members: If you receive an award or other honor from another scientific association or organization and want to share the good news with your fellow Society members, please let us know by email to Crystal Tinch, AAS Communications & Engagement Coordinator.