AIP and AAS recognized astrophysicist Piero Madau as the 2014 recipient of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics. Madau was honored “for fundamental contributions to our understanding of the era of first light in the universe, the ionization and heating of the intergalactic medium, and the formation and evolution of galaxies.” From the press release:
"Madau’s research spans astronomical scales and epochs — from the present-day properties of galaxies to the era of first light. He uses tools as simple as pencil and paper and as highly advanced as the nation’s fastest supercomputers. His early work focused on the cosmic history of star formation, the reionization of the all-pervading intergalactic medium, and the use of 21-cm radiation as a probe of the end of the cosmic “dark ages.” More recently he designed and ran some of the highest-resolution numerical simulations of the halo of dark matter that surrounds the Milky Way galaxy."
Madau also gave his award lecture at the 225th AAS Meeting in Seattle, where AAS President Meg Urry and AIP Executive Director and CEO Fred Dylla presented him with his prize. Urry also took the occasion to announce the winners of the 2015 Prize: Marc Kamionkowski of Johns Hopkins University and David Spergel of Princeton University. Kamionkowski and Spergel will receive their awards at the 227th AAS Meeting in January 2016.
