Release No. 01-53N

Note to Editors / Reporters

A video with spectacular footage illustrating recent observations and computer simulations in solar research will be featured at this year's Hale Prize lecture. The video and lecture will be presented by this year's Hale Prize recipient, Dr. Alan Title, Principal Investigator on NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) spacecraft at the Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, Palo Alto, California.

The Hale Prize is awarded annually by the Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society to recognize a scientist who has made outstanding contributions to the field of solar research. The Hale lecture, which is open to the media, will be presented on Thursday, June 7 at 11:30 a.m. EDT (8:30 a.m. PDT) at the Pasadena Conference Center, Pasadena, Calif., during the 198^th meeting of the American Astronomical Society. At the same meeting, a special preview of the lecture for the media will be offered at a press conference featuring highlights from the 30-minute video, scheduled for Wednesday, June 6 at 3:30 p.m. EDT (12:30 p.m. PDT). Copies of the video (DVD and Beta) will be made available at the press conference.

"The recent progress in understanding how the Sun works and how it affects the Earth is astounding," said Title. "It results from an unprecedented combination of observatories in space and on the ground coupled with powerful computers that allow fast data transfer and detailed simulations."

Title, Co-Director of the Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, began his career as a National Academy of Sciences Research Fellow at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and has served on numerous scientific advisory teams, including the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Solar Physics and the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Surveys of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

He is a current member of the National Research Council's Space Studies Board Executive Committee, the Executive Committee for the Advanced Solar Telescope, and the National Academy of Sciences Decadal Survey of Solar and Space Physics.

Highlights from Title's distinguished career in solar research include his development of the H-alpha solar telescopes used on Skylab and the Michelson Doppler Imager on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft. He is the Principal Investigator for TRACE, and is the U.S. Principal Investigator for the Focal Plane package on the upcoming Japanese Solar-B mission.

Title received a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from the University of California, Los Angeles, a bachelor’s. degree in Physics from Columbia University, and his doctorate in Physics from the California Institute of Technology.

For more information about the Stanford-Lockheed Institute for Space Research, refer to: http://www.lmsal.com/
For more information about and pictures from the TRACE spacecraft, refer to: http://vestige.lmsal.com/TRACE/