Who is Bruno Rossi?
In February of 1996, NASA renamed XTE to honor Bruno B. Rossi. The official title of XTE is the Bruno B. Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, or RXTE.
Professor Bruno Rossi (and his colleagues) discovered the first non-solar source of 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.
Bruno B. Rossi is pictured below.
