Blake and Garcia to be awarded by LAD for scientific contributions

Two scientific prizes for 2021 were announced by the AAS Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) on Oct. 13.

According to a release, the Laboratory Astrophysics Prize, LAD’s highest honor, is “given to an individual who has made significant contributions to laboratory astrophysics over an extended period of time."

For 2021, the award will be given to professor Geoffrey Blake for his vital contributions to “spectroscopic and observational studies of the chemistry of the interstellar medium, star-forming regions, disks, comets, and exoplanetary atmospheres." He has been a well-known figure in the field of laboratory astrophysics for the past three decades.

Dr. Javier Garcia was commended for “his calculations of atomic data and implementation of relativistic reflection models to understand accreting black holes and neutron stars” and will be awarded the LAD’s Early Career Award, which is “given to an individual who has made significant contributions to the field within 10 years of receiving a PhD," according to a release. He built a distinctive career on high-energy photoionization/spectal modeling and computational atomic physics.

Blake and Garcia will both receive a framed certificate, a cash award and a lecture invitation at the AAS LAD meeting.