American Astronomical Society awards Warner Prize

The American Astronomical Society has awarded Wayne Hu, Assistant Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, the 2000 Helen Warner Prize, and the Overseas Chinese Physics Association has awarded Hu its 1999 Outstanding Young Researcher Award.

Hu received the award and gave the Warner Prize Lecture last month at the 197th meeting of the society. The society awards the prize annually to an astronomer under the age of 36 who has made a significant contribution to observational or theoretical astronomy during the five years preceding the award.

Previous recipients of the award include Michael Turner, the Bruce and Diana Rauner Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, in 1984; the late David Schramm, Vice President for Research and a Louis Block Professor in the Physical Sciences, in 1978; and Patrick Palmer, Professor in Astronomy & Astrophysics, in 1975.

The Outstanding Young Researcher Award is given each year to a young Chinese physicist working outside of Asia in recognition of outstanding achievements in physics.

Hu, who joined the Chicago faculty last year, is recognized for his theoretical work on the temperature differences of the cosmic microwave background radiation, the afterglow of the big bang. He developed an analytical approach that clarified the physics processes involved in the formation of CMBR temperature differences. His work has provided important insights on how to use CMBR temperature differences to test cosmological theories and to determine cosmological parameters, according to his award citation from the Overseas Chinese Physics Association.