John F. Hawley | |
|---|---|
 Hawley in 2019 | |
| Born | (1958-08-23)August 23, 1958 Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
| Died | December 12, 2021(2021-12-12) (aged 63) |
| Education | Haverford College University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| Known for | Magnetorotational instability |
| Spouse | Katherine Holcomb |
| Relatives | Steven A. Hawley |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | A numerical study of nonspherical black hole accretion (1985) |
| Doctoral advisor | Larry Smarr |
John Frederick Hawley (August 23, 1958 – December 12, 2021) was an Americanastrophysicist and a professor of astronomy at theUniversity of Virginia. In 2013, he shared theShaw Prize for Astronomy withSteven Balbus.[1]
John Hawley was born in 1958 inAnnapolis, Maryland.[2] He was the younger brother of former astronautSteven A. Hawley. The family moved toSalina, Kansas when he was young. He graduated from Salina Central High School in 1976.[3]
Hawley was a 1980 graduate ofHaverford College. He received his Ph.D. in astronomy from theUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign in 1984 under the supervision ofLarry Smarr.[2]
Hawley was a Bantrell Prize Fellow in Theoretical Astrophysics at theCalifornia Institute of Technology from 1984 to 1987.[2] He then joined the faculty of theUniversity of Virginia in 1987 as an assistant professor. He was promoted to full professor in 1999 and served as chair of the Department of Astronomy from 2006 to 2012.[1] In 2012 Hawley was appointed Associate Dean for the Sciences in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.[4]
His research interests included computational astrophysics and accretion disks.[5] He and his early collaborators pioneered numerical techniques for accretion flows and in the creation of graphics and animations to communicate their results.[6]
Hawley was the 1993 recipient of theHelen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy of theAmerican Astronomical Society.[7][8] In 2013, he and former colleagueSteven Balbus shared theShaw Prize in Astronomy for their work on themagnetorotational instability (MRI). Considered one of the highest honors in astronomy, the prize included a US$1 million cash award.[1] According to the Shaw selection committee the "discovery and elucidation of the magnetorotational instability (MRI)" solved the previously "elusive" problem of accretion, a widespread phenomenon in astrophysics and "provides what to this day remains the only viable mechanism for the outward transfer of angular momentum in accretion disks".[9] The Shaw Prize ceremony was held September 23 in Hong Kong.[1]
When Hawley learned of the Shaw Prize via email, he thought it was a scam. "I started looking for the Nigerian return address and a request for my bank account number," he later joked.[1] He also recalled watching late-nightkung fu movies made byRun Run Shaw, the prize's founder, and joked that now he would have to buy a good tuxedo rather than wear "the usual astronomer attire – blue jeans and sneakers."[1] On the prize money, he commented "We're just selfless scientists who live for the joy of discovery, but it's nice to get some cash, too."[3]
