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| Volume 49, Number 2, Summer 2000 |
Two Science News staff members have been honored for their writing about physics.
Ron Cowen, who has covered astronomy for SN for more than 10 years, has been selected as the winner of the 2000 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Award. It recognizes "distinguished writing that improves the general public's understanding and appreciation of physics and astronomy."
The Institute cited "Travelin' Light" (SN, Aug. 21,
1999). In that article, Cowen described a proposed spacecraft
that would be rigged with sails pushed by sunlight. He says that
the topic first attracted him because it sounded like science
fiction. Then, he became intrigued by the idea of using the ubiquitous
energy to carry vessels beyond the solar system.
The AIP award also recognized two freelance articles that Cowen
wrote for national newspapers. He described the origin of the
musical scale in the Washington Post and provided an overview
of cosmology in USA Today.
Honored by the American Astronomical Society is Peter Weiss, who has written about physics for SN since 1998. The Solar Physics Division of AAS presented him with its 2000 award for science writers for "The Sun Also Writhes" (SN, Mar. 27, 1999).
Weiss described how laboratory scientists are creating fiery electric arcs in small clouds of charged particles to mimic tumultuous conditions in the corona that surrounds the sun. He says that the novelty of scientists' bringing a piece of the sun into the lab motivated him to cover that topic. He admits, however, that what first caught his attention was the fantastic pictures of mock solar eruptions.
(Source: Science News)