John Bahcall has won $1 million. A theorist at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, Bahcall is being honored with a Dan David prize for his wide-ranging contributions to astrophysics, from the interpretation of quasar absorption lines, to the first detection of a neutron star companion, to his calculations on solar neutrinos, which predicted a flux roughly three times greater than that observed on Earth. The shortfall in solar neutrinos is now thought to be caused by neutrino oscillations (see Physics Today, December 2002, page 16).
“This prize is really a recognition of the field,” says Bahcall. “Successes are not achieved in a vacuum. They are achieved as a result of mutual interactions among many people.”
The Tel Aviv-based Dan David Foundation last year began annually honoring three individuals or organizations for enhancing knowledge about the past, present, and future. Bahcall is the winner...
