Boston Herald
by Jules Crittenden 
Wednesday, October 9, 2002

A visionary in astrophysics whose work in Cambridge helped reveal some of the mysteries of black holes, distant galaxy clusters, quasars and supernova remnants was one of three scientists awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics yesterday.

Riccardo Giacconi, 71, presently of the Associated Universities Inc. in Washington, D.C., formerly based at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CFA), will get half of the $1 million prize for his role in ``pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources.

'' The Italian-born Giacconi, a U.S. citizen, was cited for building the first X-ray telescopes that provided ``completely new - and sharp - images of the universe,'' the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. He is president of Associated Universities Inc., a nonprofit corporation that operates several astronomical observatories for the academic research community.

His research laid the foundation for X-ray astronomy, which has led to the discovery of black holes and allowed researchers to peer deep into the hearts of the dusty young galaxies where stars are born.

``It changed the whole field,'' said Leon van Speybroeck, a CFA astrophysicist who worked with Giacconi in the 1970s. Van Speybroeck said X-ray astronomy was once considered a ``peculiar'' field, but Giacconi's work in developing telescopes that could focus diffuse X-rays produced images of previously unseen objects.``When we look now at a cluster of galaxies, most of the mass we are able to detect is through X-rays,'' van Speybroeck said. He credits Giacconi with helping to develop the original proposal for NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory, based in Cambridge, with CFA astrophysicist Harvey Tanenbaum. 

CFA astronomer William Forman, who was a graduate student under Giacconi in the 1970s, cited Giacconi's actions in laying the groundwork for larger, more advanced telescopes such as Chandra.

``What set him apart was his ability to see far, far down the road, 10, 15, 20 years down the road,'' Forman said.

Yesterday, Giacconi said he was ``dumbstruck'' when academy officials telephoned him at his home outside Washington, but added, ``I haven't been quiet since.

''Giacconi added, ``I think I'm the first one to get the Nobel Prize for work with NASA, so that's good for NASA and I think it's also good for the field. 

``It's also nice for all the other people who've worked in this field,'' he said. ``I recognize that I was never alone. I'm happy for me personally, I'm happy for my family, and I'm happy for the field and for NASA.

''Giacconi was awarded half the prize for physics. The other half prize went to Raymond Davis Jr., 87, of the University of Pennsylvania, and Japanese scientist Masatoshi Koshiba, 76, of the University of Tokyo. The two men pioneered the construction of giant underground chambers to detect neutrinos, elusive particles that stream from the sun by the billions.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Former Harvard researcher awarded physics Nobel Prize 
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