Background of Award
The Charles Greeley Abbot Award is named in honor of Dr. Charles Abbot, who was a prominent researcher in solar energy. During his 101-year lifetime, he developed a number of instruments for measuring solar insolation, determined the solar constant with great accuracy, and contributed greatly to the understanding of the solar resource on earth. He was for many years the Secretary (i.e., Director) of the Smithsonian Institution and was the founder of the Smithsonian Radiation Biology Laboratory. Dr. Abbot was also involved in aerospace. Dr. Abbot provided most of the research funds for the work of Dr. Goddard, the Father of the Space Age, who was the developer of the liquid-fuel rocket. The Soviet Union, having mapped the back side of the moon for the first time, wanted to name a major crater the “Charles Greeley Abbot Crater” and found at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union that this was not possible since Dr. Abbot was still alive. At the next meeting, an exception was made and the crater named for him. Dr. Abbot obtained his last patent at the age of 101, a sign of enduring competence and optimism.
Nomination Information
Nominees for the Abbot Award should:
- Have made a significant contribution to the advancement of solar energy through research and development (R&D). We distinguish the Abbot Award from the Hottel Award in that the Hottel is for successful commercial application of innovative research in solar energy; the Abbot Award is for significant R&D.
- Have conducted their R&D activities primarily in the United States. (For work primarily outside the US, ASES refers nominators to the International Solar Energy Society, ISES, at www.ises.org.)
In addition, nominees need not be members of ASES; however, the Awards Committee will give greater consideration to those who are ASES members or who have taken part in one or more ASES activities or programs in the past, such as Technical Divisions or annual ASES conferences. Nominators, please indicate any knowledge you have on this aspect of your nominee(s).
ASES requests that nominations include the submission of the nomination form and two letters of support for each nominee. The nomination form must be submitted by a current ASES member. Please access and submit the nomination form; however, the letters of support should be emailed to awards@ases.org, using the file naming protocol Abbott_NomineeLastName_LetterWriterLastName. If possible, include the nominee’s CV or resume, or a link to it. Please, no self-nominations.
Check back in August for 2025 Nominations.
Questions? Email awards@ases.org.
Abbot Award Winners
2024 Abraham Ellis
2023 Sarah Kurtz
2022 Ranga Pitchumani
2021 Jan Kleissl
2020 Dr. Frank E. Vignola
2019 Charlie Gay
2018 Ralph Knowles
2017 Ed Mazria
2016 David Renne
2015 Mark Thornbloom
2014 Scott Sklar
2013 Henry Red Cloud
2012 William Spratley, Green Energy Ohio
2011 Tom Stoffel, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2010 Jane Weissman, Interstate Renewable Energy Council
2009 Harold R. Hay
2008 Lawrence Kazmerski, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2007 Jane Davidson, University of Minnesota
2006 Charles Kutscher, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
2005 Gary Vliet, University of Texas at Austin
2004 Byard Wood, Arizona State University
2003 C. Byron Winn, Colorado State University
2002 Richard Perez, ASRC University at Albany
2001 Steven J. Strong, Solar Design Associates
2000 Donald Osborn, Sacramento Municipal Utility Dist.
1999 David Block, Florida Solar Energy Center
1998 D. Yogi Goswami, University of Florida
1997 Donald Aitken, Union of Concerned Scientists
1996 Michael H. Nicklas, Innovative Design
1995 Harold M. “Hub” Hubbard, Pacific Int’l Ctr for High Tech Research
1994 John R. Hickey, Eppley Laboratory
1993 Denis Hayes, Bullitt Foundation
1992 Ronald Stewart, State University of NY at Albany
1991 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, University of Chicago
1990 Carl E. Nielsen, Ohio State University
1989 Sanford Klein, University of Wisconsin
1988 Frank Kreith, University of Colorado
1987 Roland Winston, University of Chicago
1986 Frederick Morse, U.S. Department of Energy
1985 J. Douglas Balcomb, Los Alamos Scientific Laboratories
1984 Susumu Karaki, Colorado State University
1983 Francis deWinter, Altas Corporation
1982 Thomas A. Lawand, McGill University
1981 Karl W. Boer, University of Delaware
1980 George O. Lof, Colorado State University
1979 Everett D. Howe, University of California at Berkeley
1978 William A. Beckman, University of Wisconsin
1977 Maria M. Telkes, NAHB Research Foundation
1976 John A. Duffie, University of Wisconsin
1975 William H. Klein, Smithsonian Radiation Laboratory
Questions? Contact awards@ases.org.
