``I am delighted to pass on the news that
Richard Townsend,
who undertook his PhD research on `Non-Radial Pulsation in Early-Type
Stars' in this Department, has been awarded the 1997
Royal Astronomical Society
Astronomy Prize for his doctoral thesis. (`1997' refers to the year
of submission of what the judges consider to be the best astronomy
thesis in the UK, and not to the year of the award.) The judges
commented that his thesis was `the clear winner'.
``The prize, jointly sponsored by
PPARC
and
CUP,
is for 1000 pounds, plus the option of having the thesis published (in
suitably amended form) by CUP.
``Richard (who was also awarded the Departmental Massey prize) now has a
`proper' job, at
Reuters,
but maintains a lively interest in astronomy in general, and his area
of expertise in particular.''