This past month at two of AIP’s Member Society meetings, AIP management had the pleasure of presenting three of AIP’s Science Writing Awards.
At the AAS 227th Annual Meeting in Kissimmee, Florida, the AIP Science Writing Award for Science Writing, Articles was presented to Andrew Grant, of ScienceNews, for his article “The Mysterious Boundary,” and Science Writing, Books was presented to two winners: Charles Adler, for Wizards, Aliens, and Starships: Physics and Math in Fantasy and Science Fiction, and Stephen Nash, for Virginia Climate Fever: How Global Warming Will Transform Our Cities, Shorelines, and Forests. AIP hosted a small reception for the winners and their families, as well as reporters attending the AAS meeting. The winners and their families were then treated to a celebratory dinner with AIP staff, including CEO Robert G.W. Brown.
At the AAPT 2016 Winter Meeting in New Orleans, the AIP Science Writing Award for Writing for Children was presented to Agnieszka Biskup and Tammy Enz for their book, Batman Science: The Real-world Science Behind Batman’s Gear, and to Dia L. Michels, who led a team of writers, for Ghost in the Water. AIP hosted a reception for the winners and treated them and their families to dinner, and Cathy O’Riordan, AIP’s COO, presented the awards the next day at AAPT’s awards ceremony. Michels said, “It means so much to me that Ghost was selected for the AIP award. This recognition is incredible validation of the work we do and the values we hold. The book will proudly display the seal.”
Winners were announced in our fourth Science Writing category, Broadcast and New Media, as well. Anna Rothschild and Gregory Kestin received the award for their video “2.5 Ways to Die in a Black Hole,” published by NOVA|PBS.
All eight winners of the Science Writing Awards were thrilled to receive the news that they had won their prizes ($3,000 in each category), and each have expressed excitement about AIP’s (albeit unusual) “trophy”: a Windsor chair, engraved with the award seal and their name.
AIP will also present the Karl Taylor Compton Medal for Leadership in Physics, an award established in 1957 and typically given every four years. It is intended to honor “distinguished physicists for outstanding statesmanship in science.” This year’s winner is Helen R. Quinn, who will receive the award at the APS April Meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah. She is being awarded “for her leadership in promoting K-12 education and outreach, including the development of standards and approaches to science education that have had an enormous influence at the local, state, national and international levels, and for her broad and deep contributions to the advancement of theoretical particle physics.”
This year will also include the Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics, which is alternately co-sponsored by AIP Corporate Associates and APS with General Motors. The award will be announced later this year.
Other annual prizes include
- the Andrew Gemant Award, given by AIP;
- the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, given jointly by AIP and AAS and also presented at the AAS 227th meeting in Kissimmee, to 2015 winners Marc Kamionkowski and David N. Spergel;
- the Dannie Heineman Prize for Mathematical Physics, given jointly by AIP and APS will be presented at the APS March meeting in Baltimore. The 2016 recipients are: Andrew E. Strominger and Cumrun Vafa;
- the Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics, given jointly by AIP’s Center for History of Physics and APS; and
- the Fluid Dynamics Prize, supported by the Division of Fluid Dynamics, friends of Otto Laporte, and AIP.