5. Introduction of the Nobel Prizes (1901)
The origin of the Nobel
Prizes marked the beginning of the public's
attention to science in a general way. The first Nobel Prize
in Physics was awarded to Wilhelm Roentgen in 1901 for the discovery
of X rays. X-ray observations
from space now map the sun on a daily basis
in addition to providing information about stellar evolution and giant
black
holes in space, hot intergalactic gas, and other high-energy
sources. The third Nobel Prize
in Physics, awarded to Antoine Henri Becquerel, Pierre Curie,
and Marie Curie, was for the discovery of radioactivity.
We now know that radioactivity
powers the decline of supernovas.
It was observed in the
falloff of intensity of light from Supernova 1987A in the Large
Magellanic Cloud, the nearest
supernova observed to us since Johannes Kepler's supernova
of 1604.
More information:
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Jay M. Pasachoff
is the Field Memorial Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Hopkins Observatory at Williams College. His Top 10 list largely relates major world events to a number of important developments in astronomy. He points to the establishment of the Nobel Prizes as an event that helped spark public interest in science.
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