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Mark Phillips Receives AURA Science Achievement...(1Sep94)
Award
(from Director's Office, NOAO Newsletter No. 39, 1 September 1994)

Mark Phillips has received the 1994 AURA Science Achievement award for his
outstanding contribution to understanding the spectra of supernovae. Mark has
been the cornerstone of a very successful CTIO program to monitor galactic
novae and extragalactic supernovae.

Following the outburst of SN 1987A in the LMC, Mark's work was crucial in
ensuring that CTIO took maximum advantage of that unique scientific event.
Mark quickly took responsibility for much of the spectroscopic monitoring of
the outburst.

This initial work contributed to a broader interest in supernovae, especially
those of type Ia. With Mario Hamuy and Nick Suntzeff, Mark has been in charge
of a team of CTIO staff that has obtained light curves in different colors
and spectroscopy of most of the supernovae that have been observable in the
Southern hemisphere. The search for supernovae, which was a joint program
with the University of Chile, was highly successful, and the database has
proved particularly valuable in understanding the characteristics of the Type
Ia supernovae.

One of the most important results of the supernova search has been the
finding that SN Ia's are not all of the same luminosity at maximum light, as
had been thought, but rather have a dispersion in that maximum luminosity of
about one magnitude. From the spectroscopic data, Mark has been able to
establish a criterion based on Si line widths that is a luminosity
discriminant. Through this technique, SN Ia's can be calibrated for use as
standard candles.

Our congratulations go to Mark for making a significant contribution through
his systematic approach and important results.

Richard Green, Goetz Oertel, Malcolm Smith, Sidney Wolff

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