Recent news from The Johns Hopkins University
This section contains regularly updated highlights of the news from around The Johns Hopkins
University. Links to the complete news reports from the nine schools,
the Applied Physics Laboratory and other centers and institutes are to
the left, as are links to help news media contact the Johns Hopkins
communications offices.
ince its launch in 2001, the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) space mission has revolutionized our view of the universe, establishing a cosmological model that explains a widely diverse collection of astronomical observations. Led by Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Charles L. Bennett, the WMAP science team has determined, to a high degree of accuracy and precision, not only the age of the universe, but also the density of atoms; the density of all other non-atomic matter; the epoch when the first stars started to shine; the “lumpiness” of the universe, and how that “lumpiness” depends on scale size. Now, two years after the probe “retired,” Bennett and the WMAP science team are releasing its final results, based on a full nine years of observations.
December 21, 2012 Tags: Adam G. Riess, age of the universe, baby picture of the universe, big bang theory, Charles L. Bennett, dark energy, Gary Hinshaw, the density of atoms, University of British Columbia, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, Physics and Astronomy, University-Related
The Gruber Foundation announced today that the 2012 Cosmology Prize will be awarded to Johns Hopkins University professor Charles L. Bennett and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) space mission science team that he led. Bennett and the WMAP team are being recognized by the foundation for their transformative study of an ancient light dating back to the infant universe. So precise and accurate are the WMAP results that they form the foundation of the Standard Cosmological Model.
June 20, 2012 Tags: 2012 Cosmology Prize, Adam Riess, Big Bang, Charles L. Bennett, Chuck Bennett, Draper Prize, Gruber Foundation, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, origins of the universe, the Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, The Johns Hopkins University, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, University-Related
All three of the most highly cited scientific papers in the world published in 2011 were from an astrophysics space mission project led by a Johns Hopkins University scientist, according to Thomson Reuters’ Science Watch. The papers cite results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), a NASA spacecraft launched in 2001 that has revolutionized our knowledge of the history, composition, and geometry of the universe. The WMAP mission is led by Charles L. Bennett, Alumni Centennial Professor of Physics and Astronomy and Johns Hopkins Gilman Scholar
April 16, 2012 Tags: astrophysics, Charles L. Bennett, COBE, Comstock Prize in physics, Cosmic Background Explorer, Daniel Reich, Goddard Space Flight Center, Harvey Prize, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Henry Draper Medal of the National Academy of Sciences, John Mather, Johns Hopkins University, NASA, Peter Gruber Foundation, Science Watch, Shaw Prize, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, University-Related
Students dreaming of careers searching for life on other planets or monitoring global climate change remotely from satellites will be interested in a new interdisciplinary minor being offered at The Johns Hopkins University. Accessed through the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences and the Whiting School of Engineering, the new space science and engineering minor is designed to prepare students to enter careers in the aerospace industry or professional laboratories, or to enter graduate programs.
February 28, 2012 Tags: aerospace, aerospace industry, APL, Applied Physics Laboratory, Charles L. Bennett, H. Warren Moos, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Homewood Academic Council, Jessica Noviello, Joseph Katz, Krieger School of Arts and Science, satellites, space science and engineering minor, Space Telescope Science Institute, Stephen Murray, The Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Engineering, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, Student-Related News, University-Related
A report released by the National Academy of Sciences names several projects involving astronomers and astrophysicists at The Johns Hopkins University as among the most important astrophysics investments in the next decade. Titled “New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics,” the recently issued report represents the consensus position of hundreds of astronomers and astrophysicists nationwide who participated in the process of prioritizing projects.
August 27, 2010 Tags: " Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope, "New Worlds, Adam Riess, Alexander Szalay, Charles L. Bennett, Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor, Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Instrument Development Group, James Webb Space Telescope, JDEM, Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins' Institute for Data-Intensive Engineering and Science, Joint Dark Energy Mission, Katherine S. Newman, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, National Academy of Sciences, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pan-STARRS, Shaw Prize, Warren Moos, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Engineering, Homewood Campus News, Physics and Astronomy, Technology, University-Related
The Johns Hopkins University has to date been awarded more than $200 million in National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation research grants through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, also known as the federal stimulus package. The 424 grants are financing investigations ranging from how the universe began to how men and women differ in their responses to the influenza virus to new strategies to prevent muscle loss caused by diseases such as muscular dystrophy. The grants also have underwritten the creation of 164 staff jobs, 32 of which are still open.
July 13, 2010 Tags: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, ARRA, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Charles L. Bennett, Cynda H. Rushton, federal stimulus act, Jeffrey Rothstein, Jin U. Kang, Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Scott Zeger, The Johns Hopkins University, Whiting School of Engineering
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Engineering, Environment, Homewood Campus News, Institutional News, Medicine and Nursing, Natural Sciences, Physics and Astronomy, Psychology, Public Health, Social Sciences, Technology, University Administration, University-Related
Johns Hopkins astrophysicist Charles Bennett has spent his career studying the heavens, so it seems only fitting that he recently took his place among stars of another kind: those inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame. Bennett, who recently shared the $1 million Shaw Prize in astronomy for his groundbreaking work in determining the age, shape and composition of the universe, now shares this honor with 59 other distinguished University of Maryland luminaries, including Muppet creator Jim Henson, television writer and comedian Larry David, former NFL player Norman “Boomer” Esiason and American choreographer Liz Lerman. He was inducted into the University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame on June 5.
June 29, 2010 Tags: Charles L. Bennett, Comstock Prize in physics, Harvey Prize, Henry A. Rowland Department of Physics and Astronomy, Henry Draper Medal, Johns Hopkins, NASA, National Academy of Sciences, Peter Gruber Foundation, Shaw Prize, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, University of Maryland Alumni Hall of Fame, Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, WMAP
| Category: Academic Disciplines, Institutional News, Physics and Astronomy, Uncategorized