Year: 2025

Baha Balantekin honored at neutrino astrophysics workshop

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a group of around 40 people stand on a wide staircase. The text says "Neutrinos in Physics and Astrophysics, 16-18 January 2025, Berkeley, CA. A workshop celebrating the contributions of Baha Balantekin and George Fuller"

The illustrious career of Baha Balantekin, the Eugene P. Wigner professor of physics at UW–Madison, was celebrated recently at the Neutrinos in Physics and Astrophysics Workshop through the Network for Neutrinos, Nuclear Astrophysics, and Symmetries (N3AS) Physics Frontier Center. 

Balantekin works at the intersection of nuclear physics, particle physics, and astrophysics. For much of his career, he has studied theoretical aspects of neutrinos originating in the Sun, supernovae, or neutron star mergers. He has helped pioneer the field known as neutrino astronomy.

three men pose standing next to each other
John Beacom, PhD ’97 (left), Baha Balantekin and George Fuller at the 2025 Neutrinos in Physics and Astrophysics workshop. (Provided by Rebecca Singh and Sarah Wittmer, UC Berkeley)

“Even just a few decades ago, if you said ‘neutrino astronomy,’ most physicists would have snickered. That’s because astronomy is about observations and neutrinos are almost impossible to detect,” says John Beacom, PhD ’97, distinguished professor of physics and astronomy at the Ohio State University. “But, over time, physicists have helped to make this seemingly impossible field into something real and vibrant. The observations of astrophysical neutrinos that have been made have been essential to understanding our Sun, supernovae, and distant galaxies.”

Balantekin and George Fuller, a distinguished professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego, have helped lead the field of neutrino astrophysics through both their scientific work and their mentoring of junior scientists. To honor both scientists’ significant and ongoing contributions to the field, three of their former students organized the workshop: Beacom, a former student of Balantekin’s, and Fuller’s former students Gail McLaughlin, distinguished university professor of physics at North Carolina State University and Yong Zhong Qian, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Minnesota. The event was held Jan 16-18 at the University of California, Berkeley.

a man is presenting powerpoint slides to a small audience
Francis Halzen presents at the workshop. (Provided by Pupa Gilbert)

Francis Halzen, a current colleague of Balantekin’s at UW–Madison, was one of the speakers. Other attendees included UW–Madison physics professor Pupa Gilbert and professor emerit Sue Coppersmith. 

John Beacom and Pupa Gilbert contributed significantly to this story 

 

 

Dan McCammon awarded Distinguished Career Prize

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profile photo of Dan McCammon
Dan McCammon

Congrats to Prof. Dan McCammon for earning the Distinguished Career Award from The American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) for his pioneering work on the development of microcalorimeters that has led to breakthroughs in X-ray astronomy and on soft diffuse X-ray background.

The HEAD Distinguished Career Prize is awarded at the time of the Division Meeting to recognize an individual high-energy astrophysicist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of high energy astrophysics throughout their career. Outstanding contributions include a body of important research results (observational, theoretical or experimental) which have led to ground-breaking results in high-energy astrophysics, and/or a career of mentorship to a new generation of high-energy astrophysicists, especially if this mentorship helped to support under-represented or under-resourced scientists and increased the diversity of the HEA community. The winner gives an invited talk at the Divisional Meeting in the award year. The prize carries a cash award of $1500.

AAS announced many 2025 prizes today; the full list can be found at their website.

This post is adapted from the AAS news release and website linked within the text.