THE Australian behind the field of galactic archaeology has been awarded the American Astronomical Society's top prize for a lifetime of achievement. <\/p>\n
Ken Freeman changed the course of astronomy when he explained dark matter to the world in a paper in 1970 that revealed what we can see of galaxies - the stars, gas and dust - is only a small fraction of their mass. <\/p>\n
The rest is invisible dark matter, said his paper. <\/p>\n
Professor Freeman from the Australian National University has now been awarded the prestigious Henry Norris Russell Lectureship for a lifetime of seminal contributions to astronomy. <\/p>\n
\"Many of my old friends, mentors and colleagues are on the list of past recipients of this prize, and it is a great pleasure to be listed with them,\" he said in a statement on Thursday. <\/p>\n
Prof Freeman won the Prime Minister's Prize for Science last year for his work. <\/p>\n
He is a founder of the field of galactic archaeology, or research determining the age and movement of stars in our galaxy by their chemical composition. <\/p>\n
It was born out of discussions he began in the 1980s with a post-doctoral fellow, Joss Bland-Hawthorn, who is now a professor at University of Sydney. <\/p>\n
Most stars in galaxies are formed in groups of between 10,000 and a million stars. <\/p>\n
After losing mass they eventually wander off and, after three or four galactic rotations of about 200 million years each, they are spread far and wide throughout the galaxy. <\/p>\n
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Aussie professor gets US astronomy gong<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" THE Australian behind the field of galactic archaeology has been awarded the American Astronomical Society's top prize for a lifetime of achievement. Continue reading