Wednesday, October 27, 1999

Frank Receives Popular Science Writing Award

Adam Frank, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astrophysics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and Scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, was chosen as the receipient of the 1999 Popular Writing Award of the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society. Frank, an astrophysicist who studies the birth and death of stars, was honored for his article "Blowin' in the Solar Wind," which appeared in the October 1998 issue of Astronomy Magazine.

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The following is the University Press Release:

CONTACT: Tom Rickey (716) 275-7954 Adam Frank (716) 275-1717

July 16, 1999

UNIVERSITY ASTROPHYSICIST WINS WRITING PRIZE

A University of Rochester astrophysicist who studies how stars are born and how they die has been awarded a science-writing prize from the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society.

Adam Frank, assistant professor of astrophysics in the Department of Physics and Astronomy and a scientist at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics (LLE), received the division's 1999 Popular Writing Award for scientists for his article, "Blowin' in the Solar Wind," which appeared in the October 1998 issue of Astronomy Magazine. A second award, for professional journalists, was presented to reporter Kurt Loft of the Tampa Tribune. The $500 awards are given to authors of popular articles on the Sun and its effects on Earth's environment.

In his article Frank describes how scientists are using the latest satellites and supercomputers to predict the onslaught of "space storms," energetic outbursts on the Sun that may disrupt communications or human activity in space. He has written for Astronomy, Discover, Earth, and several other publications, and currently writes a weekly astronomy column for an Addison-Wesley Web site.

"What animates my writing is my love for science," says Frank, whose parents are both writers. "Whenever I write about a subject, I try to find the hook that shows people that science is not a dry, boring subject. It's a human endeavor, animated by all the human passions."

Frank is an expert on the huge jets of gas that are routinely jettisoned from old and young stars alike. This squirting of material from stars near death and from stellar nurseries provides clues to how solar systems form and how stars have spent their lives. At LLE he uses the world's largest laser to recreate conditions found elsewhere only in distant stars, and he uses a supercomputer to model and predict stellar events.

Funding from the National Science Foundation and NSF supports these studies, as well as Frank's outreach efforts. He and his students are creating a scaled-down version of the computer codes they rely on for their research, and plan to make this tool available to college students and the public to make theoretical astrophysical experiments an activity others can enjoy. His writing showcases another effort by Frank to bring astrophysics to life for millions of readers.

"These articles represent very fine work bringing cutting-edge solar research news to a general audience," said Aad van Ballegooijen, chairman of the committee that made the awards. "We want to recognize these efforts, because we believe that the public should be kept abreast of news in this field. The Sun is the nearest star, and it affects life on earth profoundly."

A graduate of the University of Colorado and the University of Washington, Frank was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Minnesota before joining the University in 1996. In addition to his research he teaches a number of classes; in his "Introduction to the Milky Way," Frank creates Web pages and relies on them as the primary source of material, much like earlier generations of teachers relied on notebooks or blackboard scribbling to convey key information.

Article submitted by:
Arie Bodek
10/27/99; 2:15:38 PM

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