The Carlyle S. Beals Award was established by CASCA in 1981 in recognition of the groundbreaking research of the late C.S. Beals. The Beals Prize was originally awarded to provide a grant for travel to a General Assembly of the International Astronomical Union (every three years). In 1988, however, it was first awarded in its present form: to a Canadian astronomer or an astronomer working in Canada, in recognition of outstanding achievement in research (either as a specific achievement or as a lifetime of research). The recipient shall be invited to address the Society at its Annual Meeting. To be considered for the award, nominees must be current CASCA members.
An award is now considered every second year, in even-numbered years. The nomination package must consist of a joint letter of nomination by at least two members of CASCA, the CV of the candidate, and three external letters of support (e.g., from international experts in the nominee’s field). No letter should exceed three pages in length. No other material should be submitted. Please submit nomination packages entirely in electronic form to the Chair of the Awards committee. The deadline for submissions for the 2014 award is 19 January 2014.
2012 Carlyle S. Beal Award
CASCA is pleased to announce the selection of Dr. David Crampton, from the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics (HIA), as the recipient of the 2012 Carlyle S. Beals Award.
Following the completion of his doctoral studies at the University of Toronto, Dr. Crampton joined the scientific staff at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory in 1967. A leadingscientific and technical figure in the Canadian astronomical community for more than 40 years, Dr. Crampton has authored more 250 refereed papers spanning a wide range of topics, including the properties of young stars, the structure of the Milky Way, X-ray binaries and black holes, quasars, the evolution of galaxies, and the history of cosmic star formation. Dr. Crampton’s past honours and distinctions include the BC Science Council Gold Medal (1983), the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Muhlmann Award (1991), and the Commemorative Medal of the Golden Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (2002).
From 1986 to 2006, Dr. Crampton led the astronomy technology research group at HIA. During this period, he was the PI or Co-PI, on a series of the ground-breaking instruments for Canadian telescopes, including the CFHT Herzberg Spectrograph, MOS/SIS spectrograph and its OSIS near-IR upgrades, MOCAM, Adaptive Optics Bonnette, and MegaPrime, as well as the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS). Literally hundreds of astronomers have used the DAO, CFHT, and Gemini telescopes to publish thousands of articles based on data collected with these instruments. From 2004 to 2009, he was the leader of the TMT Science Instruments Group, a project in which he remains actively involved. Since 2010, he has been a leading figure in efforts to redevelop CFHT.
| 2012 |  David Crampton |
“Carpe Lux. Beal’s Lecture 2012″ |
| 2010 | Bill Harris | “Between Galaxies and Stars” |
| 2008 | Ray Carlberg | “Preliminary SNLS Third Year Results” |
| 2006 | Georges Michaud | “Atomic Diffusion in Pop II Stars, Globular Clusters and WMAP” |
| 2004 | Ernest R. Seaquist | “The Galaxy M82 – a Rosetta Stone for the Starburst Phenomenon” |
| 2002 | John Landstreet | “Magnetic Fields in Stars” |
| 2000 | Gilles Fontaine | “The Potential of White Dwarf Cosmochronology” |
| 1998 | Gordon A. H. Walker | “Challenges for the New Millennium: Some Persistent Astronomical Mysteries” |
| 1996 | J. Richard Bond | “Cosmic Background Anisotropies and Large Scale Structure: Past, Present and Future” |
| 1994 | Peter G. Martin | “Interstellar Pinball: A Sometimes Shocking Story of Excited Molecular Hydrogen” |
| 1992 | Rene Racine | “Support for Astronomy” |
| 1990 | Scott Tremaine | “Is the Solar System Stable?” |
| 1988 | Sidney van den Bergh | “Supernovae and their Remnants” |
| 1985 | Anne B. Underhill | |
| 1982 | John B. Hutchings |
