The Charles Greeley Abbot Award is named in honor of Dr. Abbot, who was a prominent researcher in solar energy. During his lifetime of 101 years, he developed a number of instruments for measuring insolation, determined the solar constant with great accuracy, and contributed greatly to the understanding of the solar resource on earth. He was for many years the Secretary (i.e. Director) of the Smithsonian Institute, and was the founder of the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Laboratory. Dr. Abbot was also involved in aerospace. His predecessor as Secretary of the Smithsonian, Dr. Langley (for whom the Langley unit of insolation is named), did much research on power flight before the flight of the Wright brothers. Dr. Abbot provided most of the research funds for the work of Dr. Goddard, who was the developer of the liquid-fuel rocket and is considered the father of the space age. The Soviet Union, having mapped the back side of the moon for the first time, wanted to name a major crater the "Charles Greeley Abbot Crater" and found at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union that this was not yet possible since Dr. Abbot was still alive. At the next meeting an exception was made and the crater named for him. Dr. Abbot obtained his last patent at the age of 101, a sign of enduring competence and optimism.
The Charles Greeley Abbot Award is made each year by the ASES Awards Committee. The primary requirement is that the winner has made a significant contribution to the Society or to the field of solar energy. No geographical limitations are imposed and the winner need not be a member of the society.
2008 Award Nominations are due January 5, 2008.
Past Abbot Award Winners
2007 Jane Davidson, University of MInnesota
2006 Charles Kutscher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2005 Gary Vliet, University of Texas at Austin
2004 Byard Wood, Arizona State University
2003 C. Byron Winn, Colorado State University
2002 Richard Perez, ASRC University at Albany
2001 Steven J. Strong, Solar Design Associates
2000 Donald Osborn, Sacramento Municipal Utility Dist.
1999 David Block, Florida Solar Energy Center
1998 D. Yogi Goswami, University of Florida
1997 Donald Aitken, Union of Concerned Scientists
1996 Michael H. Nicklas, Innovative Design
1995 Harold M. "Hub" Hubbard, Pacific Int'l Ctr for High Tech Research
1994 John R. Hickey, Eppley Laboratory
1993 Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation
1992 Ronald Stewart, State University of NY at Albany
1991 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, University of Chicago
1990 Carl E. Nielsen, Ohio State University
1989 Sanford Klein, University of Wisconsin
1988 Frank Kreith, University of Colorado
1987 Roland Winston, University of Chicago
1986 Frederick Morse, U.S. Department of Energy
1985 J. Douglas Balcomb, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories
1984 Susumu Karaki, Colorado State University
1983 Francis deWinter, Altas Corporation
1982 Thomas A. Lawand, McGill University
1981 Karl W. Boer, University of Delaware
1980 George O. Lof, Colorado State University
1979 Everett D. Howe, University of California at Berkeley
1978 William A. Beckman, University of Wisconsin
1977 Maria M. Telkes, NAHB Research Foundation
1976 John A. Duffie, University of Wisconsin
1975 William H. Klein, Smithsonian Radiation Laboratory |
