Ben Oppenheimer Recognized For Innovation

Thursday, November 19 11:54 am

The innovative and collaborative research of curator Ben Oppenheimer has been recognized with a 2009 Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists from the New York Academy of Sciences. Most of his work takes place in a specialized optics lab on the sixth floor of the Rose Center. There, Oppenheimer and his colleagues design, build and test new types of cameras capable of discovering and imaging planets that orbit stars other than the sun. These instruments are then installed at telescopes in remote mountain-top observatories. Their latest project, Project 1640, is in operation at the Palomar Observatory in California.

Ben Oppenheimer (center, in red) with Museum colleagues (l to r) Neil Zimmerman, Douglas Brenner, and Sasha Hinkley as they prepare to move Project 1640 equipment - AMNH