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For release: 02/02/04
Release #: N04-003
Dr. Martin Weisskopf, chief project scientist for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, has received the Rossi Prize for research in astrophysics. He is the fourth scientist at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala., to receive the honor from the American Astronomical Society. The research center is a partnership with the Marshall Center, industry and Alabama universities.
Photo: Weisskopf (NASA/MSFC)
Dr. Martin Weisskopf, chief project scientist for NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, has received the Rossi Prize for research in astrophysics. He is the fourth scientist at the National Space Science and Technology Center in Huntsville, Ala., to receive the honor from the American Astronomical Society.
Awarded annually since 1985 by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society, the Rossi Prize recognizes significant contributions to high-energy astrophysics, emphasizing recent, original work. The prize is named for the late Dr. Bruno Rossi, an authority on cosmic rays and physics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.
Weisskopf is chief scientist for X-ray Astronomy in the Space Sciences Department at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville — one of the partnering institutions of the National Space Science and Technology Center. He shares the 2004 Rossi Prize with Dr. Harvey Tananbaum of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, also in Cambridge.
The scientists earned the award for their vision, dedication, and leadership in the development, testing and operation of the Chandra Observatory. With the addition of Weisskopf and Tananbaum, scientists associated with their two institutions — the Harvard- Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and the National Space Science and Technology Center — have earned the first and second most Rossi Prizes, respectively, of any other organizations worldwide.
"I am honored to receive this award and share it with my colleague and friend," Weisskopf said. "There can be no question that we two represent the hundreds of individuals that have contributed to make this a truly 'Great Observatory.'"
One of NASA's four "Great Observatories," Chandra is the world's most powerful X-ray telescope. Since its launch in 1999, Chandra has helped scientists better understand the structure and evolution of the universe — generating the most sensitive or "deepest" X-ray exposure ever made, shedding new light on planets including Mars and Jupiter, finding an X-ray ring around the Crab Nebula, and making numerous discoveries involving supermassive black holes.
Weisskopf has a bachelor's degree in physics from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, and a doctorate in physics from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. He began his post-graduate career at Columbia University in 1969, where he became an assistant professor and performed many pioneering experiments in X-ray astronomy. In 1977, Weisskopf joined the Marshall Center as senior X-ray astronomer and project scientist for Chandra.
He has held numerous special appointments during his career. He is a senior co-investigator of the European Space Agency's international X-ray imaging experiment and principal investigator of a major experimental research program initiated in 1978 that currently concentrates on the development of X-ray optics.
Weisskopf is the recipient of numerous awards, including NASA Medals for Exceptional Service and for Scientific Achievement. In 1994, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2001 as a fellow in the International Society for Optical Engineering. Weisskopf is author or co-author of 225 publications including peer-reviewed journal articles, articles in books, monographs and papers in conference proceedings.
Previous Rossi winners associated with the National Space Science and Technology Center include Dr. Chryssa Kouveliotou in 2003, Dr. Jan van Paradijs in 1998 and Dr. Gerald Fishman in 1994.
Kouveliotou, of the Marshall Center, was a member of a team honored for its research of magnetars, which are neutron stars with extraordinarily strong magnetic fields. The late van Paradijs — of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and University of Alabama in Huntsville — was honored for the discovery of the X-ray and optical afterglow of powerful explosions known as gamma ray bursts. Fishman, of the Marshall Center, was recognized for his contributions to the Burst and Transient Source Experiment instrument aboard NASA's Earth-orbiting Compton Gamma Ray Observatory and for related research into gamma-ray bursts.
Focusing on space science, Earth science, materials science, biotechnology, propulsion, information technology and advanced optics and energy technology, the National Space Science and Technology Center enables scientists, engineers and educators to share research and other facilities. In addition to the Marshall Center, its partnering institutions include industry and Alabama research universities.
The NSSTC is a cooperative venture of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Alabama A & M University, Auburn University, Tuskegee University, The University of Alabama, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, The University of Alabama in Huntsville, and The University of South Alabama.
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