NICER / ISS Science Nugget
for March 17, 2022

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The NICER Team Wins the Rossi Prize

On March 16th, the NICER team was awarded the 2022 Rossi Prize by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society "for the development of the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and the revolutionary insights it is providing about the extreme environments of neutron stars and black holes, including the first precise and reliable measurement of a pulsar's mass and radius from detailed modeling of its pulsed waveform." The Rossi Prize is awarded annually in honor of Bruno Rossi (see figure) for "significant contributions to High Energy Astrophysics with particular emphasis on recent, original work." This is the highest award in High Energy Astrophysics. Many thanks to the entire NICER team and partners, including everyone on the ISS program who have helped and continue to help NICER to be successful.

Figure: Professor Bruno Rossi (and his colleagues) discovered the first non-solar source of cosmic X-rays (Scorpius X-1). Rossi, a pioneer in both X-ray astronomy and space plasma physics, died in 1993, after a long and distinguished career. He served as professor of Physics and Professor Emeritus at MIT, and in 1987 was the co-recipient of the prestigious Wolf Prize in Physics. The Bruno B. Rossi Prize, awarded annually to a top astrophysicist for achievements in the field, is named in his honor.

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