Henny Lamers Is Our Newest Honorary Member

In early January the AAS named Dutch astronomer Henny J.G.L.M. Lamers as an honorary member of the Society. Dr. Lamers is a professor at the University of Amsterdam, an emeritus professor at the University of Utrecht, and an elected member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Henny Lamers is best known for his work on stellar populations, especially massive stars, and was one of the early pioneers in the study of mass loss from stars. In addition to hundreds of scientific papers, he is the author or editor of several books, including Introduction to Stellar Winds with Joseph P. Cassinelli (Cambridge University Press, 1999), Formation and Evolution of Massive Young Star Clusters with Linda J. Smith and Antonella Nota (ASP Conference Series, 2004), and Stellar Evolution at Low Metallicity: Mass Loss, Explosions, Cosmology with Norbert Langer, Tiit Nugis, and Kalju Annuk (ASP Conference Series, 2006).

In response to a congratulatory email from AAS President David Helfand, Lamers wrote, "Thank you very much for making me an honorary member of the AAS. I am surprised and delighted that you consider my work worthy of this honor!" He then noted that it was his second surprise in as many days — only a day earlier, he received notification from the International Astronomical Union (IAU) that asteroid 12635, discovered in 1971 by a team of Dutch astronomers working at Palomar Observatory, would henceforth be known as Hennylamers.