Nobel Prize in Physics: Riccardo Giacconi

Short Bio

Born in Italy, Riccardo Giacconi earned his Ph.D. in cosmic ray physics at the University of Milan.

In 1959 he joined American Science and Engineering, a Massachusetts research firm, where he began work on X-ray astronomy. His team developed grazing incidence X-ray telescopes and launched them on rockets. In 1962 they discovered Sco X-1, the first known x-ray source outside the solar system.

They then built the UHURU orbiting X-ray observatory and made the first surveys of the X-ray sky. They discovered 339 X-ray "stars", most of which turned out to be due to matter falling into black holes and neutron stars.

Joining the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1973, Giacconi led the construction and successful operation of the powerful X-ray observatory, HEAO-2, also known as Einstein, which made detailed images of X-ray sources.

Giacconi was the first director of the Space Telescope Science Institute from 1981 to 1993, and he directed the European Southern Observatory for the next six years.

In 1999 he became president of Associated Universities, Inc., the operator of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.

He has simultaneously held positions as professor of physics and astronomy (1982-97) and research professor (since 1998) at Johns Hopkins University.

Contributions

Riccardo Giacconi will be a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2002 "for pioneering contributions to astrophysics, which have led to the discovery of cosmic X-ray sources."

Giacconi's vision, intellect, and ability to inspire others led directly to the Chandra X-ray Observatory and to the legions of X-ray astronomers who now explore the high-energy universe. Justly called "the father of X-ray astronomy," Giacconi and his team discovered the first cosmic X-ray source in 1962, then proposed, designed and directed NASA's Uhuru X-ray satellite which found the first evidence for a black hole. The Einstein X-ray Observatory, the first imaging X-ray telescope, was also a product of Giacconi's team.

In 1976, Giacconi along with Harvey Tananbaum, now director of the Chandra X-ray Center, submitted a proposal letter to NASA that began the process that led to the development of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.

Why do we need satellites?Xrays just don't make it

through our atmosphere.It was on captured German

V2 rockets that we were able to first get X-ray images of our sun. Our own Jim Kraakevik was involved in putting xray cameras on these rockets in the 1950's. This is a captured V2 on display in the Smithsonian.

The Sun in X-rays

Giacconi's first success

Aerobee was a liquid-fueled scientific rocket that could reach an altitude of 230km (350s)

June 18, 1962, 2-10keV proportional counter. Discovers Scorpius X-1

Satellite long-term observations

Variability in X-ray sources

Centaurus X-3 observed with

Uhuru

Chandra X-ray Observatory

Grazing incindence, first from parabola, then from hyperbola. Iridium coated glass. Very heavy. Long focal length. Size dictated by shuttle.

How do you focus X-rays?

Pictures

Pictures

Visible vs Xray: HST deep fieldDeep field image taken by HST, showing galaxies as far as the eye can see. Some percentage of these are x-ray emitters. This suggests that the Xray continuum is really discrete x-ray objects in the sky.

Xray jets

Xray jets are at keV. Accelerator!?