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.