Why Haverford Sciences are phenomenal: Part 12(?)

HC_Alum
Tue, 04 Jun 2013 00:23:50 +0000

[UVA Astronomer Wins Major Prize in Astronomy | WVTF](UVA Astronomer Wins Major Prize in Astronomy | WVTF)

“A University of Virginia professor has won the Asian equivalent* to the Nobel Prize for his research on energy, magnetism and black holes. The news came by e-mail, and John Hawley is still buzzing.”

At Haverford College, he got interested in the question of what happens to matter as it approaches black holes – objects with a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape. “When matter falls into a black hole, it gains speed, it gains energy, and basically the in fall speeds are greater than the speed of light, so if you have a way of tapping into that energy, other than just having it fall into the black hole, then you have an enormous source of energy which could be radiated. In the early 90’s, he and former UVA Professor Steven Balbus made an important discovery about the role of magnetism in the process. Their work was published, and the two moved on, but last week Hawley got a surprise. “There was an e-mail from somebody I knew in Germany that said, ‘Congratulations,’ and I said, ‘What’s that for?’ And then I saw an e-mail from my colleague Steve Balbus, and it said, ‘See you in Hong Kong,’ and then I showed I to my wife , and she said something to the effect that they must have the wrong John Hawley," he said. Later, he heard from the sponsors of a prestigious award called the Shaw Prize, set up by Hong Kong billionaire and media mogul Runrun Shaw. Hawley will split a million dollars with Balbus, who is now at Oxford."

*Since when is the Nobel Prize geographic or racial? :rolleyes: