More Faculty Honors
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| Riccardo Giacconi |
In March, President Bush awarded Nobel Prize-winning astronomer Riccardo Giacconi the National Medal of Science, the nation's highest award for contributions to scientific knowledge.
Giacconi, considered the father of X-ray astronomy, is a University Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, where he recently returned to a faculty position, working with postdoctoral students (he had been a research professor in the department for several years).
More than 40 years ago, Giacconi led the team that discovered the faint, uniform phenomenon known as the cosmic X-ray background. In the years since, including in his work with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, he has helped to define that background and determine its origin. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his work.
Giacconi, who was founding director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, is also past president of Associated Universities, Inc., the consortium that co-administers with the National Science Foundation the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.
The National Medal of Science was established by Congress in 1959 to honor individuals for outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, engineering, social, and behavioral sciences.
Jun-ichi Igusa, professor emeritus in the Mathematics Department, recently received one of his native country's highest honors, Japan's Order of the Sacred Treasure, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon.
The award recognizes Igusa's contributions to the development of mathematics and his role in cultivating scientific exchange between the United States and Japan. "He played a role of a coordinator who connected Japanese researchers and students who wanted to study at Johns Hopkins and work with Johns Hopkins in the field of math," said Masaaki Tanino, the consul of the Consulate-General of Japan in New York, in presenting Igusa with the honor.
The Order of the Sacred Treasure is Japan's second-highest civilian academic honor.
Other faculty members received prestigious awards from their alma maters in recent months:
Adam Falk, interim dean, dean of faculty, and professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department, was one of three 2004 recipients of the Distinguished Young Alumni Award from the University of North Carolina, from which Falk graduated in 1987. Previous recipients include Michael Jordan, soccer star Mia Hamm, and author Kaye Gibbons.
Biology professor Yuan C. Lee, a worldwide leader in the field of glycobiology, was honored with the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine's Distinguished Alumnus Award for Achievement. Lee earned his PhD from Carver College in 1962.
Economist Robert A. Moffitt, editor-in-chief of American Economic Review, and biophysicist George D. Rose, a leader in the study of protein and RNA folding, have been named Krieger-Eisenhower professors.
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