Who was John Bahcall and what impact did he have on the astrophysics community?

[SpaceTiger]

The famous astrophysicist and head of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, John Bahcall, has died. Here's a brief article on him. Professor Bahcall is partifcularly noted for his work on the solar neutrino problem, insisting that solar models were correct and encouraging physicists to search for new neutrino physics.

As a side note, John Bahcall was one of the most powerful (perhaps the most powerful) members of the astronomical/astrophysical community all the way up to his death. His death will likely have significant consequences for the political landscape of astrophysics.

 

[Nereid]

The passing of one of the true greats in astrophysics, one of my heroes.

http://www.ias.edu/Newsroom/announcements/Uploads/view.php?cmd=view&id=287 announcement.

 

[robphy]

http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/9/8/12/1
http://www.sciencewatch.com/interviews/john-n-bahcall.htm
http://www.thirteen.org/bigideas/bahcall.html
http://www.aip.org/history/esva/catalog/esva/Bahcall_John.html

 

[cosmo_boy]

John Bahcall was really a great physicist. His research interests very diverse from particle physics to cosmology. He had been associted with many observational projects , like the Hubble space telescope. He wrote three or four books also. I like the book "Unsolved problems in astrophysics". I think this is an excellent book for graduate students working in this field and if they read it before going in any particular field then it will really help to make choice.

John wrote many popular articles also which can be find on his princton's webpage.

 

[Haelfix]

A sad note, I knew him well. A towering figure in astrophysics for many decades. One of those unreplaceable types.

 

[Chronos]

Very sad. I never met the man, just a few of his students. He was a giant in our time.

 

[Nereid]

What was the Bahcall paper (or other published work) that you read which first made you appreciate the quality of his work?

For me, http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/astro-ph/pdf/9603/9603035.pdf was one such (though, being published in 1996, I'm sure it wasn't the first).

 

[Chronos]

My personal favorite is his work on solar neutrinos:
http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/9211291
Title: What Do Solar Models Tell Us About Solar Neutrino Experiments?
Author: John N. Bahcall

Thanks Nereid, I am humbled by your questions. You are a very bright lady. I admit I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I just try to do the best I can.