AIP awards and prizes

Yu Lu, a theoretical physicist and research fellow in the institute of physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is the recipient of the 2008 Tate Medal for International Leadership in Physics from the American Institute of Physics (AIP). The medal, named for the late John Torrence Tate, a former president of the American Physical Society, recognizes distinguished service to the physics profession by a non-US national. Yu, an APS fellow, is cited for landmark contributions in “bringing together the world’s condensed matter physics community, the support of young scientists, the creation of important international conferences, and international statesmanship in theoretical physics.” The medal and a check for $10 000 will be awarded at the APS March Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Also at the March Meeting, AIP, APS, and the Heineman Foundation will jointly award the 2008 Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics to Mitchell Feigenbaum of Rockefeller University for “developing the theory of deterministic chaos … and for profound influence of these discoveries on our understanding of nonlinear phenomena.” His work in chaos theory has led to the so-called Feigenbaum constants. The prize consists of a certificate and $7500.

In January, AIP and the American Astronomical Society named Andrew Fabian, professor of astronomy at the University of Cambridge, the recipient of the 2008 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics for his “innovative and influential work in the field of x-ray astronomy.” His research areas include black holes, neutron stars, and the x-ray background. Fabian is editor-in-chief of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. He will receive $7500 and a certificate.

Also awarded at the AAS meeting was AIP’s 2007 Andrew W. Gemant Award for physics in culture. It was given to Andrew Fraknoi, an astrophysicist and physics professor at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California. Fraknoi received a $5000 prize. He also designated an additional grant of $3000 to be split between Foothill College and the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, where he served as executive director, to further the communication of physics to the public.