| Citation | Distinguished for his contributions to Cosmic X-ray Astronomy and Solar Physics through a wide-ranging series of experimental investigations and the critical analysis of X-ray data. He has made very important contributions to observational techniques especially the use of position sensitive proportional counters, of gas flow thin window systems for soft X-rays, of grazing incidence mirrors and of high resolution crystal spectrometers, particularly a novel bent crystal geometry. In many highly successful rocket and satellite flights he carried out significant studies of the solar corona and flares, of binary systems and S.N. Remnants, and of extragalactic objects. He obtained the first high time resolution observations of solar-flare iron lines showing by a penetrating theoretical analysis the importance of conductive cooling in flare - plasma ratio dependence on electron density in the corona. He produced the first X-ray map of the SNR's Cas A and Pup A, demonstrated that the radiation from the latter was generated in shock-heated interstellar clouds and found an emission line of O VIII from Pup A. He discovered an offset between the pulsar and the centroid of the X-rays emitted by the Crab, was the first to show that the galaxy NGC 1275 was an X-ray source and to find X-ray emission lines from the Perseus Cluster - a discovery which fundamentally affected ideas about clusters of galaxies, especially the significance of thermal processes. He has since identified other examples.
Culhane's work has established him as a leader of international repute in his subject. He continues to play a vital role in keeping the U.K. in the forefront of X-ray Astronomy.
A list of 101 publications is appended. |