Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) News
Printer Friendly VersionWard named Fellow of AAAS
Boulder, Colo. -- November 27, 2006 -- The American Association for the Advancement of Science has conferred the distinction of Fellow to Dr. William R. Ward, an Institute scientist in the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®).
The distinction honors efforts in the advancement of science or its applications deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. Ward was recognized by his peers in the AAAS Section on Astronomy for outstanding contributions to the study of planetary dynamics. As a theoretician, Ward has contributed fundamental insights to humankind's understanding of planetesimal formation, the origin and dynamical evolution of the moon, planet migration, planetary obliquity mechanics, and the formation of planetary and satellite systems.
He is particularly known for discovering numerous aspects of the complex and subtle dynamical interactions between planetary objects and gaseous and particle disks, for helping to give birth to the giant impact theory of lunar formation and for discovering the oscillations in Mars' polar axis that drive strong climate variation over time.
Ward holds bachelor's degrees in mathematics and physics from the University of Missouri (Kansas City) and a doctorate in planetary sciences from the California Institute of Technology. In 2004, he received the prestigious Brouwer Award from the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society; he was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 2005.
He will receive a certificate and rosette pin during the AAAS Annual Meeting in February 2007. The AAAS is the world's largest general scientific society and publisher of the journal Science. Its tradition of Fellows began in 1874.
Editors: A photo is available for download at http://www.swri.org/press/2005/Ward.htm
For more information contact Maria Martinez at (210) 522-3305, Communications Department, Southwest Research Institute, PO Drawer 28510, San Antonio, TX 78228-0510.
