NEWS
X-ray Images of the Sun
Novotny Wins Golay Award
An X-ray telescope flown on a NASA sounding rocket above New Mexico at the time of totality in Hawaii of the July 11 eclipse has produced very high resolution X-ray images of the uneclipsed Sun (see photo). The project is part of a coordinated research effort to im prove understanding of the solar corona, the tenuous outer atmosphere of the Sun. Images from the telescope, built at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY and at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory in Cam bridge, MA, combined with measurements from groundbased instruments on Mauna Kea in Hawaii, should provide information on the three-dimensional structure of the corona. (Normally, radiation from the solar disk, the area obscured by the moon at eclipse totality, would overwhelm optical measurements of the corona.) The normal incidence X-ray telescope, or NIXT, incor porates a multilayer X-ray mirror that enhances the low X-ray reflectivities of materials. The mirror con sists of 140 alternating layers of carbon and cobalt de signed to combine the small amounts of radiation re flected from each of the interlayer boundaries. Layer thicknesses were chosen so that optimal reflection would occur for X-rays emitted by highly ionized atoms of iron and magnesium, which are emitted from the solar corona at a temperature of approximately 2,000,000 °C. Filters blocked visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light that would interfere with imaging. The normal incidence multilayer X-ray optics can observe coronal structure without interference from radiation at other wavelengths produced by solar regions at various temperatures.
Milos Novotny, Rudy Professor of Chemistry at Indiana University, has received the 1991 Marcel Golay Award. Novotny was honored for his pioneering work in capillary chro matography and electrophoresis. Novotny received his Ph.D. from the University of Brno (Czechoslova kia) in 1965. Prior to joining the fac ulty at Indiana University in 1971, he held research associate positions at the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, the Royal Karolinska Institute (Sweden) and the University of Houston.
Pines Receives Wolf Foundation Prize Alexander Pines of the University of California, Berkeley, has received the 1991 Wolf Foundation Prize in chemistry. Pines was honored for his revolutionary contributions to NMR spectroscopy, particularly multiplequantum and high-spin NMR. Pines and co-winner Richard R. Ernst of the ΕΤΗ Zurich will share the $100,000 prize, which was presented by Chaim Herzog, President of Israel. Pines received his B.S. degree from the Hebrew Uni versity of Jerusalem in 1967 and his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1972.
For Your Information The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has published the 1991 Annual Directory of Accredited Laboratories (NIST SP 810). The direc tory lists more than 1000 domestic and foreign laborato ries accredited by the NIST National Voluntary Labora tory Accreditation Program for specific test methods as of July 1, 1991. Labs are listed alphabetically by field of testing and by state. To order, send a self-addressed mailing label to NVLAP, A124 Bldg. 411, NIST, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 (301-975-4016, fax 301-975-3839).
X-ray image of the uneclipsed Sun. The dark silhouette of the ap proaching Moon can be seen on the right. (Courtesy of SAO/IBM Research.)
The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is offering a compendium of the International Organiza tion for Standardization (ISO) 9000 standards series o n quality management. The compendium can be purchased for $80 from the ANSI Customer Service De partment, 11 W. 42nd St., New York, NY 10036 (212642-4900, fax 202-302-1286).
ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 63, NO. 19, OCTOBER 1, 1991 · 923 A
