You are here
2000 Doggett Prize Winner - Owen Gingerich
Owen Gingerich Awarded the 2000 LeRoy E. Doggett Prize
by David DeVorkin (reprinted from HAD News #51)
Photo courtesy Harvard University
In the face of intense and worthy competition, the LeRoy Doggett Prize Committee (David DeVorkin, Thomas Hockey, Bruce Stephenson, Virginia Trimble, and Don Yeomans) tallied their results, and the unanimous choice as the second recipient of the Prize is Owen Gingerich [Harvard].
Owen is not only one of the founders of the HAD, but more than anyone else has helped build up the image of professional history of astronomy as being something more than an afterthought in an astronomical career. He accomplished this through writing and lecturing, and, we all know, has given three plenary lectures to the AAS (on Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo) as well as the most prestigious lecture of the RAS (the George Darwin Lecture) on historical topics. Owen has kept history before the Society and before the public. More than anyone else today, he can be thought of as “Mr. History of Astronomy” among astronomers and historians alike.
Many of you also probably know that this year marks Owen’s retirement at Harvard. This past Fall he finished giving his very popular “Astronomical Perspective” course for the last time; it was “the longest-running course under the same management” at Harvard these last few years, having started in 1963.