Sloan Digital Sky Survey received the 2021 ACM SIGMOD Systems Award for its “early and influential demonstration of the power of data science to transform a scientific domain.” The award recognized the contributions of Fermilab’s Bill Boroski, Steve Kent and Brian Yanny, as well as several others, for work done from 2000 to 2008 on the database systems developed to distribute SDSS data.
From the University of Chicago, May 21, 2021: Long-time University of Chicago professor of astronomy and astrophysics, Richard Kron created the Sloan Digital Sky Survey which set the stage for the Dark Energy Survey. Although he is retiring this year after 40 years of mapping the universe, he plans on staying on as director of the Dark Energy Survey.
From The University of Chicago Physical Sciences, Feb. 8, 2021: Fermilab scientist Richard Kron is retiring from the University of Chicago. He co-founded the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which created the most detailed 3-D maps of the universe and recorded the spectra for more than 3 million astronomical objects. His approach influenced the Dark Energy Survey, which created one of the most accurate dark matter maps of the universe and which Kron will continue to direct.
From UChicago News, Oct. 18, 2019: The Department of Energy has honored University of Chicago scientists Josh Frieman, also of Fermilab, and Ian Foster, also of Argonne National Laboratory, for their transformative research and scientific leadership, selecting them as part of its inaugural Office of Science Distinguished Scientist Fellowship program. Frieman was listed for “pioneering advances in the science of dark energy and cosmic acceleration, including leading the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-II Supernova Survey, co-founding the Dark Energy Survey and service as its director.”
Combining the newest of astronomical instruments with the most venerable techniques of patient attention to detail, scientists at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, the University of Chicago and other institutions believe they have made the first optical observation of a gamma ray burst afterglow unprompted by prior observation of the gamma ray burst itself-a so-called “orphan afterglow.”