John Johnson Wins Astronomy Prize

John A. Johnson, assistant professor of planetary astronomy at Caltech, received the 2012 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize at the 221st meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), in Long Beach, California.

The AAS reserves the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize for North American astronomers, ages 36 and under, for "outstanding achievement, over the past five years, in observational astronomical research based on measurements of radiation from an astronomical object." Johnson received a cash award and an invitation to speak at the AAS conference on January 8.

According to the award citation, Johnson was recognized for "major contributions to understanding fundamental relationships between exosolar planets and their parent stars, including finding a variety of orientations between planetary orbital planes and the spin axes of their stars, developing a rigorous understanding of planet detection rates in transit and direct imaging experiments, and examining possible correlations between planet frequency and the mass and metallicity of their host stars."

"I am very pleased and thankful to the American Astronomical Society for this award," Johnson says. "Thanks to powerful new instruments and an emerging generation of highly motivated explorers, planetary astronomy is an exciting field to be in right now. I am happy to be part of it."

Johnson is one of the founding members of Caltech's new Center for Planetary Astronomy. His recent research findings related to the estimated number of planets in the Milky Way have generated significant interest both within the astronomical community and among the general public.

In addition to the Pierce Prize, Johnson was also a recipient in 2012 of a Lyman Spitzer Lectureship, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, and a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship.