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Release: 01-333

Dr. Martin Weisskopf of NASA Marshall receives Hermann Oberth Award for scientific achievement

Dr. Martin Weisskopf, chief of X-ray Astronomy at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has received the Hermann Oberth Award for scientific achievement.  Weisskopf is the project scientist for the world’s most powerful X-ray telescope, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory.

The annual honor, awarded by the Alabama-Mississippi section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics based in Reston, Va., recognizes outstanding individual scientific achievement in astronautics and space sciences, or for the promotion and advancement of the aeronautical sciences.

The award is named for a founding father of rocketry and modern astronautics, Hermann Julius Oberth, who pioneered methods for designing rockets that could escape the Earth’s gravitational pull.  Previous recipients of the award include rocket pioneer Dr. Wehrner Von Braun, who led the Marshall team that built the mammoth Saturn V rocket that launched Americans to the moon, and scientist and astronaut Dr. Owen Garriott.

Weisskopf, who earned his doctorate in physics from Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., joined NASA’s Marshall Center in 1977 as senior X-ray astronomer and Chandra X-ray Observatory project scientist.

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, called IBIS.  He is 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 as a fellow of the American Physical Society. In early 2001, he was chosen as a fellow in the International Society for Optical Engineering for his significant scientific and technical contributions to the optics community.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is responsible for the design, development and operation of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The Marshall Center is NASA's lead center for development of advanced large optics manufacturing technology and space transportation and propulsion systems, and microgravity research.