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UCSC astronomer awarded top high-energy astronomy prize for work on supernovae and gamma-ray bursts Stan Woosley, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has won this year's Bruno Rossi Prize for his pioneering work on supernovae and gamma-ray bursts, the most violent explosions in the universe. The prize is awarded each year by the High Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society.Woosley, an expert in theoretical astrophysics, is being recognized for his detailed modeling of supernovae -- the massive explosions of dying stars. Woosley's work on the evolution of massive stars and their explosion as supernovae describes how the "heavy" elements needed for life, such as oxygen and iron, are forged and ejected. In addition, Woosley's "collapsar" model of massive star explosions has recently been identified as the central engine of some gamma-ray bursts, a major breakthrough in this field.
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