American Institute of Physics announces awards for best scien...( College Park MD February 24 2009 -- ...)

College Park, MD, February 24, 2009 -- The American Institute of Physics (AIP) announced the winners of its 2008 Science Writing Awards today. The winners -- two scientists, a journalist, a children's book author, and a public television producer -- will receive four prizes of $3,000, engraved Windsor chairs, and certificates of recognition.

"These outstanding science communicators have each improved the general public's appreciation of physics, astronomy, and related sciences through their wonderfully creative endeavors," says Catherine O'Riordan, AIP Vice President, Physics Resources. "We are pleased to be able to recognize such excellent work."

The winners and their award-winning pieces are:

• ANN FINKBEINER, a freelance journalist and writing professor at Johns Hopkins University, has won the 2008 AIP Science Writing Award in the JOURNALIST CATEGORY for her book, "The Jasons" (Viking/Penguin, 2006). It profiles a secretive group of some of the country's smartest scientists who have met every summer for the last 45 years to work on mostly classified problems for the U.S. government.

• GINO SEGRE, an author and emeritus physics professor at the University of Pennsylvania has won the 2008 AIP Science Writing Award in the SCIENTIST CATEGORY for his book "Faust in Copenhagen" (Viking/Penguin, 2007). This book is about a meeting in April 1932 where some thirty of the world's leading theorists discussed all the great physics problems of the day then concluded the gathering with parody of Goethe's "Faust."

• JULIA CORT, an Emmy-award winning senior producer for "NOVA" and "NOVA scienceNOW" (produced out of WGBH, Boston), is the winner of the 2008 AIP Science Writing Award in the BROADCAST CATEGORY for her production "NOVA scienceNOW: Asteroid," which poses the question: will a doomsday rock the size of the Rose Bowl hit Earth in 2036? It aired on PBS stations across the country in 2006-2007.

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