Dr. Daniel W. Savin of Columbia University and the American Museum of Natural History has been awarded the 2026 Laboratory Astrophysics Prize by the Laboratory Astrophysics Division (LAD) of the American Astronomical Society (AAS). The award recognizes his contributions to studies in X-ray astrophysics and early Universe star formation and his extensive service to the laboratory astrophysics community. A significant part of of the X-ray astrophysics research was conducted at the Test Storage Ring (TSR) at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik.
The Laboratory Astrophysics Prize, LAD’s highest honor, is given to an individual who has made significant contributions to laboratory astrophysics over an extended period of time. For over three decades, Dr. Savin has been a leading figure in the laboratory astrophysics community. Dr. Savin led a 21-years-long project measuring dielectronic recombination, the dominant electron-ion recombination process for most atomic ions in astrophysical plasmas. This work was performed using the TSR at the Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany. These measurements, and the theoretical calculations they stimulated, dramatically improved the charge state distribution calculations used to interpret and model cosmic X-ray spectra.
The Test Storage Ring (TSR) began operation in 1988 and ran through the following decades before being taken out of routine operation in the 2012 as the new Cryogenic Storage Ring (CSR) was being assembled.
TSR was primarily an electron-cooled heavy-ion storage ring used for precision atomic-physics and accelerator-development experiments, providing exceptionally cold, long-lived ion beams that enabled measurements impossible with single-pass setups.
The full press release of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) can be found here.
