LIGO Awarded Berkeley Prize from American Astronomical Society

Recently, three members of LIGO's team received a letter from the American Astronomical Society.  The letter began:

"Dear Drs. Shoemaker, Fritschel, Coyne

It is my privilege to inform you that you, representing a team of investigators have been awarded the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Lancelot M. Berkeley New York Community Trust Prize for Meritorious Work in Astronomy in recognition of your broundbreaking development of LIGO."

Dennis Coyne is LIGO's Chief Engineer, while Peter Fritschel is the Chief Scientist and David Shoemaker is the LIGO Scientific Collaboration's Spokesperson.  All three individuals were instrumental in the development of the newest generation of LIGO technology, referred to as Advanced LIGO. 

Bestowed annually since 2011 by the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the Berkeley prize includes a monetary award and an invitation to give the opening plenary presentation at the AAS winter meeting, often called the “Super Bowl of Astronomy.” While awarding this price the American Astronomical Society noted that LIGO's paper "Astrophysical IMplications of the Binary Black Hole Merger GW150914" was one of the most widely cited astrophysics papers of 2016  - with over 45,000 downloads. 

For more information, check out the American Astronomical Society's announcement .