NASA PRESS RELEASE (April 1990)
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NASA HUBBLE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM WILL MAKE SPACE TELESCOPE
RESEARCH ACCESSIBLE TO TALENTED YOUNG ASTRONOMERS
     

NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute, in cooperation with 
astronomical institutions throughout the United States, has taken a 
major initiative toward creating the astronomy leaders of tomorrow 
with the inauguration of the Hubble Fellowship Program.  The Hubble 
Fellowship Program will help ensure that some of the best recent 
scientific talent in astronomy and physics will be awarded an 
opportunity to conduct important research on challenging discoveries 
associated with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope (HST) program.

The launch of the HST will usher in a new "golden age" for astronomy.  
HST is the flagship of NASA's Great Observatories Program, where major 
telescopes orbit above Earth's atmosphere yielding unprecedented views 
of the universe across a broad swath of the electromagnetic spectrum.  
The flood of information returned by NASA's Great Observatories will 
have an enormous impact on modern astronomy.  There will be a 
tremendous requirement for skilled astronomers to conduct research and 
analysis related to NASA's space astrophysics programs of the 1990's, 
and beyond.

The highly qualified post-doctoral scientists selected for this 
program from around the world will be able to conduct HST related 
research of their choice at participating astronomical institutions 
throughout the U.S. Hubble Fellows will also have an opportunity to 
discuss their research at a symposium which will be held annually at 
STScI.

Candidates are selected annually by an external review panel which 
ranks them on the basis of absolute scientific merit (publications, 
research proposal, academic achievements).  This year's review 
committee noted the extraordinarly high caliber of the awardeees and 
indicated its belief that these were indeed the future leaders and 
prize winners of tomorrow.

On completion of the Fellowship program they will go most probably on 
to professorships or equivalent posts at major institutions. The 
Hubble Fellowship Program will play an important role in expanding, 
strengthening, and nurturing leadership and scientific excellence in 
the astronomy community throughout the coming decade.
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