HEAD Press Releases

JOSHUA SOKOL WINS DAVID N. SCHRAMM SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD

Joshua Sokol has been awarded the 2019 David N. Schramm prize from the High-Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

The winning article is entitled “Star-Swallowing Black Holes Reveal Secrets in Exotic Light Show” and appeared in Quanta Magazine on August 8, 2018.

Sokol is a freelance science journalist in Boston, where he covers astronomy and other topics in natural history. After receiving B.A. degrees in English Literature and Astronomy at Swarthmore College, he worked as a data analyst for the Hubble Space Telescope’s Advanced Camera for Surveys, then obtained a master’s degree from MIT’s graduate program in science writing. His stories have appeared in Quanta, Science, and The Atlantic, among other places.

The purpose of the Schramm Award is to recognize and stimulate distinguished writing on high-energy astrophysics in order to improve the general public's understanding and appreciation of this exciting field of research.

"I’m honored to get this news and to learn more about David Schramm’s legacy," Sokol said. "High-energy astrophysics can unveil some of the most extreme, most interesting events in the universe, and that makes it especially exciting to write about."

The award consists of a prize of $1,500 and a plaque containing a citation.  The publisher of the winning work will receive a certificate honoring the publication in which the work appeared.  The award is sponsored by HEAD/AAS, which pays the winning author's personal travel expenses so that the award can be received in person at the 17th Divisional meeting, which will be held March 17-21, 2019, in Monterey, CA. Any science writers who wish to attend the meeting may receive complimentary press registration. Please contact Megan Watzke for information.

David Schramm was a distinguished scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of particle astrophysics, a discipline where cosmology and particle physics meet.  High-energy astrophysics incorporates experimental and theoretical studies of high-energy photons and particles from the cosmos, including the disciplines of X-ray, gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astronomy.

More information on the Schramm award is available at: http://www.aas.org/head/schramm/schramm.prize.html

NADIA DRAKE WINS DAVID N. SCHRAMM SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD

Nadia Drake has been awarded the 2017 David N. Schramm award from the High-Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The winning article is entitled "Found! Gravitational Waves, or a Wrinkle in Spacetime" and appeared on National Geographic’s website on February 11, 2016.

Drake is a freelance science journalist and contributing writer at National Geographic, where she covers everything from black holes to animals in the form of news stories for the website, features for the magazine, and the astronomy blog “No Place Like Home.” She has a Ph.D. in genetics from Cornell University and a certificate in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her work has appeared in Nature, Science News, and WIRED, among other places, and she frequently hits the road in search of stories and adventure.

The purpose of the Schramm Award is to recognize and stimulate distinguished writing on high-energy astrophysics in order to improve the general public’s understanding and appreciation of this exciting field of research.

"It’s a real honor to receive this award -- I still can’t quite believe it," said Drake. "High-energy astrophysics not only reveals the intricacies of the universe we inhabit, it captures imaginations in compelling and charismatic ways. I’m thrilled to be a part of that."

The award consists of a prize of $1,500 and a plaque containing a citation. The publisher of the winning work will receive a certificate honoring the publication in which the work appeared. The award is sponsored by HEAD/AAS, which pays the winning author’s personal travel expenses so that the award can be received in person at the next HEAD meeting, which will be held August 20-24, 2017, in Sun Valley, Idaho (https://aas.org/meetings/head16). The 16th meeting of the HEAD will also be in the path of totality of this summer’s solar eclipse. Other science writers who wish to attend the meeting may receive complimentary press registration. Please contact Megan Watzke (see below) for information.

David Schramm was a distinguished scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of particle astrophysics, a discipline where cosmology and particle physics meet. High-energy astrophysics incorporates experimental and theoretical studies of high-energy photons and particles from the cosmos, including the disciplines of X-ray, gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astronomy.

PHIL PLAIT WINS DAVID N. SCHRAMM SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD

Phil Plait has been awarded the 2016 David N. Schramm award from the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The winning article is entitled “A Supermassive Black Hole’s Fiery and Furious Wind” and appeared on Slate.com on February 25, 2015.

Dr. Plait, widely known as “The Bad Astronomer,” is the author of numerous articles and the books “Death from the Skies! The Science Behind the End of the World” and “Bad Astronomy.” He wrote and hosted “Crash Course Astronomy,” a web series that has over 12 million views, and is a frequent guest on science documentaries. He is also a popular public speaker and often sought after by media to address current scientific, especially astronomical, topics.

The purpose of the Schramm Award is to recognize and stimulate distinguished writing on high-energy astrophysics in order to improve the general public’s understanding and appreciation of this exciting field of research.

“I’m truly honored to receive this award. It means a lot to me personally because for many years I worked on education and public outreach for several NASA high-energy missions, writing about gamma rays, black holes, and more,” said Plait. “When I write about those topics now it’s a direct extension of all that I learned working on those missions back then.”

The award consists of a prize of $1,500 and a plaque containing a citation. The publisher of the winning work will receive a certificate honoring the publication in which the work appeared. The award is sponsored by HEAD/AAS, which pays the winning author’s personal travel expenses so that the award can be received in person at the next HEAD meeting, which will be held April 3-7, 2016, in Naples, Florida.

David Schramm was a distinguished scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of particle astrophysics, a discipline where cosmology and particle physics meet. High-energy astrophysics incorporates experimental and theoretical studies of high-energy photons and particles from the cosmos, including the disciplines of X-ray, gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astronomy.

Dutch freelance astronomy writer Govert Schilling has been selected as the winner of the 2014 David N. Schramm award from the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society.

The purpose of the Schramm Award is to recognize and stimulate distinguished writing on high-energy astrophysics in order to improve the general public's understanding and appreciation of this exciting field of research.

Schilling, the author of dozens of popular astronomy books and the first non-English writer to receive the prize, was awarded this year’s Schramm prize for his article, “The Frozen Neutrino Catcher,” which appeared in the January 20143 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine. The piece profiles the IceCube observatory, including Schilling’s first-hand account of visiting the underground laboratory at the South Pole in December 2012, through the National Science Foundation’s Antarctic journalist program.

“Ever since I first met David Schramm in December 1990 at the 15th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics in Brighton, United Kingdom, I’ve been interested in the extreme universe,” says Schilling, who authored the book “Flash! The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe” (Cambridge University Press, 2002), on the emergence of the field of gamma-ray burst astronomy. “It’s a big honor to receive the prize named after him.”

The award, which is sponsored by HEAD/AAS, consists of a prize of $1,500 and a plaque containing a citation. The publisher of the winning work will receive a certificate honoring the publication in which the work appeared. The award pays the winning author's personal travel expenses to a future HEAD meeting.

David Schramm was a distinguished scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of particle astrophysics, a discipline where cosmology and particle physics meet. High-energy astrophysics incorporates experimental and theoretical studies of high-energy photons and particles from the cosmos, including the disciplines of X-ray, gamma-ray and cosmic-ray astronomy.

The next HEAD meeting will be held August 17-21, 2014 in Chicago, IL (https://aas.org/meetings/head14).

More information on the Schramm award is available at: http://www.aas.org/head/schramm/schramm.prize.html

AGILE WINS TOP HIGH-ENERGY PRIZE

The 2012 Rossi Prize has been awarded to astrophysicist Marco Tavani and the AGILE team for the discovery of gamma-ray flares from the Crab Nebula. Long thought to be a steady source of energy-- from optical to gamma rays--this finding has changed the understanding of this very important cosmic object.

"The production of these incredible gamma-ray flares from the Crab Nebula is a feat that will lead us to a deeper understanding of the fundamental processes of particle acceleration in cosmic sources," said Dr. Tavani. "AGILE unveiled this phenomenon in part because of its rapid data acquisition and processing -- a large success for a 'small mission'."

AGILE ("Astrorivelatore Gamma a Immagini Leggero") is an Italian Space Agency (ASI) mission dedicated to the observation of the gamma-ray Universe. The mission is conducted with the participation of the Italian Institutes of Astrophysics (INAF) and Nuclear Physics (INFN). Dr. Tavani, of the INAF-Istituto di Astrofisica Spaziale e Fisica Cosmica in Rome and University of Rome "Tor Vergata", is the Principal Investigator of the AGILE mission.

The AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) awards the Rossi Prize in recognition of significant contributions as well as recent and original work in high-energy astrophysics. The prize is in honor of Professor Bruno Rossi, an authority on cosmic ray physics and a pioneer in the field of X-ray astronomy. The prize also includes an engraved certificate and a $1,500 award. Dr. Tavani will give a joint lecture at the 221st AAS meeting in Long Beach, CA in January 2013.

For more information about AGILE, visit http://agile.iasf-roma.inaf.it/ and http://agile.asdc.asi.it/

Information on previous winners of the Rossi Prize can be found at: http://www.aas.org/head/rossi/rossi.recip.html
 

DENNIS OVERBYE WINS DAVID N.
SCHRAMM SCIENCE JOURNALISM AWARD

Dennis Overbye from the New York Times has been awarded the 2011 David N. Schramm award from the High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS).

The purpose of the Schramm Award is to recognize and stimulate distinguished writing on high-energy astrophysics in order to improve the general public’s understanding and appreciation of this exciting field of research.

Overbye’s winning piece, entitled “A Costly Quest for the Heart of the Dark Cosmos,” appeared on the front page of the newspaper on November 17, 2010. The story chronicles the journey of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and its leader Sam Ting through a long and winding budgetary and political process.

“I am especially pleased about this award because I knew David Schramm for a long time and I greatly admired and liked him,” said Overbye. “I learned a lot from him, both about the universe and the Big Bang, and most importantly about life.”

The award consists of a prize of $1,500 and a plaque containing a citation. The publisher of the winning work will receive a certificate honoring the publication in which the work appeared. The award is sponsored by HEAD/AAS, which pays the winning author’s personal travel expenses so that the award can be received in person at the next HEAD meeting, which is being held this week (September 7-10, 2011) in Newport, Rhode Island.

David Schramm was a distinguished scientist who is widely regarded as the founder of the field of particle astrophysics, a discipline where cosmology and particle physics meet. High-energy astrophysics incorporates experimental and theoretical studies of high-energy photons and particles from the cosmos, including the disciplines of X-ray, gamma-ray, and cosmic-ray astronomy.

More about the 2011 HEAD meeting:
http://www.confcon.com/head2011

More about the Schramm award:
http://www.aas.org/head/schramm/schramm.prize.html
 

This year’s winner is Jeanette Gladstone for her thesis entitled “Optical & X-ray Studies of Ultraluminous X-ray Sources,” work that was done while she was at the Durham University in the United Kingdom. This work sheds new light on the previously unknown life cycle of mysterious black holes and may have implications for the role of black holes in the evolution of entire galaxies.

“Receiving this award is quite an honor,” said Dr. Gladstone, now a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta in Canada. “I’m very much looking forward to continuing my research in this exciting area of astrophysics.”

The winner of the prize receives a certificate, a cash award of $1000, and an invitation to give a 30-minute invited talk at the semi-annual HEAD meeting. The HEAD meeting is currently being held in Newport, RI, where hundreds of scientists are in attendance.

More information on the HEAD dissertation prize can be found at:
http://www.aas.org/head/dissertation_prize/dissertation.prize.html

Details of the Newport HEAD are available at:
http://www.confcon.com/head2011/