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In Brief
The division of atomic, molecular, optical, and
plasma physics of the UK's Institute of Physics awarded the 2001 Sir
David Bates Prize last month in the village of Going, Austria, to
Raymond Flannery. A Regents' Professor in the school of
physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, he was acknowledged
for his "distinguished contributions to the field of theoretical
atomic physics and in particular for his studies of recombination
processes with applications to astrophysics and plasma physics."
John S. Wettlaufer joined Yale
University in January as a professor of geophysics and physics. He
previously was with the University of Washington, Seattle, where he
will remain an affiliate professor of physics.
Last October in Oviedo, Spain, the Prince of Austurias Foundation
presented the 2001 Prince of Austurias Award for International
Cooperation to the International Space Station. Representatives of
the partner space agencies of the ISS who accepted the award were
William MacDonald "Mac" Evans, who retired in November 2001
as president of the Canadian Space Agency; Michael Hawes,
NASA's deputy associate administrator for spaceflight (Space
Station); Kaname Ikeda, executive director of the National
Space Development Agency of Japan; Yuri Koptev, director
general of the Russian Aviation and Space Agency; and Antonio
Rodotà, director general of the European Space Agency. The
foundation recognized the agencies' efforts "to achieve
international cooperation that have been necessary to turn this
enormous orbiting laboratory for scientific research for a greater
understanding of our planet into a reality."
In December, NSF announced the recipients of the 2001
Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and
Engineering Mentoring. Included among the winners are two
institutions that do physics-related work: the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf, in the science and engineering
department at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York, and
Significant Opportunities in Atmospheric Research and Science
at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research in Boulder,
Colorado. The awards, in their sixth year, recognize efforts that
enable students from underrepresented groups to pursue careers in
science, mathematics, and engineering.
The Science and Technology Foundation of Japan, located in Tokyo,
will present Timothy Berners-Lee with the 2002 Japan Prize in
the category of computing and computational science and engineering
at a ceremony next month. A senior research scientist in the MIT
Laboratory for Computer Science, he is being recognized for the
"advancement of civilization through [the] invention,
implementation, and deployment of the World Wide Web." Berners-Lee
will receive a cash prize of ¥50 million (about $375 000), a medal,
and a certificate of merit.
Bruce Berne has won the Joseph O.
Hirschfelder Prize in Theoretical Chemistry, awarded last October by
the Wisconsin-Madison Theoretical Chemistry Institute and the
University of Wisconsin-Madison chemistry department. Berne, Higgins
Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, was recognized for
his "theoretical and computer simulation studies of the structural
and dynamical properties of molecular liquids."
This past November, the History of Science Society awarded the
2001 Joseph H. Hazen Education Prize, which recognizes outstanding
contributions to the teaching of the history of science, to
Stephen G. Brush. According to the society, he "exemplifies
how the task of a historian of science does not end with archival
work or academic publication, but extends to instantiating
historical knowledge in broader communities where the information is
relevant." Brush is a Distinguished University Professor of the
History of Science at the University of Maryland, College Park, and
holds a joint appointment in the history department and the
Institute for Physical Science and Technology.
© 2002 American Institute of
Physics
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