Riccardo Giacconi

Riccardo Giacconi

1981

Date of Birth
: 
January 6, 1931
Date of Death
: 
December 9, 2018

Born in Genoa, Italy, Riccardo Giacconi earned his Ph.D. in cosmic ray physics at the University of Milan and then spent brief postdoctoral periods at Indiana and Princeton Universities. In 1959 he joined American Science and Engineering, a Massachusetts research firm, where he began work on X-ray astronomy. His team developed grazing incidence X-ray telescopes and launched them on rockets. In 1962 they discovered Sco X-1, the first known X-ray source outside the solar system. They then built the UHURU orbiting X-ray observatory and made the first surveys of the X-ray sky. They discovered 339 X-ray “stars”, most of which turned out to be due to matter falling into black holes and neutron stars. Among these was Cygnus X-1, the first object to be widely accepted as a black hole. They also discovered the X-ray emission by hot gas in clusters of galaxies. Giacconi continued to work on the X-ray background radiation for many years using a number of satellite observatories. Joining the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1973, Giacconi led the construction and successful operation of the powerful X-ray observatory, HEAO-2, also known as Einstein, which made detailed images of X-ray sources. Giacconi was the first director of the Space Telescope Science Institute from 1981 to 1993, and he directed the European Southern Observatory for the next six years. At ESO he oversaw the development and construction of the Very Large Telescope. From 1999 to 2004 he served as president of Associated Universities, Inc., the operator of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory. In this position he was involved in the development of the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), a huge millimeter and submillimeter wavelength array then being built at high altitude in Chile by a team of European, American, and Japanese institutions. Giacconi simultaneously held positions as professor of physics and astronomy (1982-97) and research professor (from 1998) at Johns Hopkins University.

Presentation of Bruce medal

Mercury 10, 182 (1981)

Other awards

American Association of Physics Teachers, Richtmeyer Memorial Award, 1975.
American Astronomical Society, Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy, 1966; Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, 1981.
American Institute of Physics & American Astronomical Society, Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics, 1981.
Astronomische Gesellschaft, Karl Schwarzschild Medal, 2004.
Franklin Institute, Elliot Cresson medal, 1980.
International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, Marcel Grossmann Award, 2000
National Science Foundation, National Medal of Science, 2003.
Nobel Foundation, Nobel prize, physics, 2002.
Royal Astronomical Society, Gold medal, 1982.
Wolf Foundation, Wolf Prize, 1987.

Biographical materials

International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics, presentation of “Laurea Honoris Causa,” [in Italian]
Giacconi, Riccardo, “An Education in Astronomy,” Ann. Rev. Astr. Astrophys. 43, 1-30 (2005)
Giacconi, Riccardo, Autobiography on receiving the Nobel Prize, 2002.
National Radio Astronomy Observatory press release, Riccardo Giacconi to Become President of AUI, 1999.
Ultimate Italy
Vega Science Trust, interview with Dr. Giacconi (2004 video)

Obituaries

European Southern Observatory, December 2018.
Overbye, Dennis, New York Times, 13 December 2018.
Space Telescope Science Institute, 10 December 2018
Tucker, Wallace, Chandra X-ray Observatory, 13 December 2018.

Academic genealogy

AstroGen

Portraits

AIP Center for History of Physics (several)
National Medal of Science Award, 2003 (with U.S. President)
9th Marcel Grossmann Awards
WXOW, 2009

Named after him

Minor Planet #3371 Giacconi

Bibliography

Papers, etc.

Some of Giacconi’s papers are at the Smithsonian Institution Archives and some at the Harvard University Archives. Oral history interviews are at the AIP Center for History of Physics and the National Air and Space Museum. Giacconi was also interviewed by Kip Thorne in 1983.

Other References: Historical

Aschenbach, Bernd, Hermann M. Hahn, & Joachim Trümper, “The History of X-ray Astronomy,” in The Invisible Sky: ROSAT and the Age of X-ray Astronomy (Copernicus, an imprint of Springer-Verlag, NY, 1998), p. 17-35.

Calzetti, Daniela, Mario Livio, & Piero Madau, eds., Extragalactic Background Radiation: A Meeting in Honor of Riccardo Giacconi Proceedings of the Space Telescope Science Institute Symposium, held in Baltimore, Maryland May 18--20, 1993 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

Chaisson, Eric J., The Hubble Wars: Astrophysics Meets Astropolitics in the Two-Billion-Dollar Struggle over the Hubble Space Telescope (HarperCollins, NY, 1994).

Chandra X-Ray Observatory, “History of X-Ray Astronomy”
http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/xray_astro/history.html

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Progress in X-Ray Astronomy,” Physics Today, 26 (5), 38-47 (May 1973).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Personal recollections on the origins of the Einstein Observatory,” in Imaging X-ray Astronomy: A Decade of Einstein Observatory Achievements, ed. by Martin Elvis (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990), p. 3-12.

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Achievements and Prospects for X-ray Astronomy,” Astronomische Nachrichten 319, 1/2 , 147-50 (1998).

Gursky, H., R. Ruffini, & L. Stella, eds., Exploring the Universe: A Festschrift in Honor of Ricardo Giacconi (World Scientific, Singapore, 2000).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Herbert Gursky [obituary],” Physics Today 60, (6), 76 (2007).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Theoretical and Experimental Preparations for the June 18,1962, Rocket Flight that Led to the Discovery of Sco X-1,” in Half a Century of X-ray Astronomy, Proceedings of the conference held 17-21 September, 2012 in Mykonos Island, Greece., (2012), id. 92.

Giacconi, Riccardo, Secrets of the Hoary Deep: A Personal History of Modern Astronomy (Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, Baltimore, 2008).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “History of X-ray Telescopes and Astronomy,” Experimental Astronomy 25, 143-56 (2009).

Gursky, Herbert, “Technology and the Emergence of X-ray Astronomy: Presented at the American Physical Society, Centennial Meeting, March 1999,” Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage 3, 1, 1-12 (2000).

Hirsch, R.F., “Science, Technology, and Public Policy: The Case of X-Ray Astronomy, 1959 to 1972,” Ph.D. dissertation, U. of Wisconsin, 1979. Available from University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, MI.

Hirsch, Richard, Glimpsing an Invisible Universe: The Emergence of X-ray Astronomy (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1983)

Pounds, Kenneth, “X-ray Astronomy,” in Michette, Alan & Slawka Pfauntsch, eds., X-rays: the First Hundred Years, Wiley, NY, 1996, p. 175-92.

Rossi, Bruno, Moments in the Life of a Scientist (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990).

Rossi, B., H. Gursky, E. Boldt, G.W. Clark, & R. Giacconi, “Personal recollections on the origins of the Einstein Observatory,” ”in Martin Elvis, ed., Imaging X-Ray Astronomy — a Decade of Einstein Observatory Achievements, (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK & NY, 1990), pp. 3-12.

Smith, Robert W., The Space Telescope (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989).

Smith, Robert W.; Hanle, P.A.; Kargon, R.H.; Tatarewicz, J.N.: The Space Telescope. A Study of NASA, Science, Technology, and Politics (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993).

Thorne, Kip S., Black Holes & Time Warps (W.W. Norton, 1994).

Tucker, Wallace & Riccardo Giacconi, The X-Ray Universe (Harvard Univ. Press, 1985).

Tucker, Wallace & Karen, The Cosmic Inquirers (Harvard Univ. Press, 1986).

T[ucker], W[allace] K., Major Milestones in X-ray Astronomy
http://xrtpub.harvard.edu/chronicle/0202/40years/index.html.

“Proceedings of the Uhuru Memorial Symposium: The Past, Present, and Future of X-Ray Astronomy,” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 71, no. 1 (1981).

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Other References: Scientific

Giacconi, R., A. Lovati, A. Mura, & C. Succi, “Osservazioni preliminary sullo sviluppo della cascata nucleare in piombo prodotta dalla radiazione cosmica a 3500 metri,” Supplemento del Nuovo Cimento, Series X 4, 892-95 (1956).

Fiorini, E., R. Giacconi, & C. Succi, “Uno nuova camera di Wilson di grandi dimensioni,” Il Nuovo Cimento, Series X 6, 355 (1957).

Giacconi, R., G.W. Clark, & B. Rossi, “A Brief Review of Experimental and Theoretical Progress in X-Ray Astronomy,” Technical Note of American Science and Engineering, ASE-TN-49, Jan. 15, 1960.

Giacconi, R., W. Blum, & G.T. Reynolds, “Detection of high-energy mu mesons by an air Cerenkov counter,” Il Nuovo Cimento series X 11, 102-07 (1959).

Giacconi, Riccardo & Bruno Rossi, “A ‘Telescope’ for Soft X-Ray Astronomy,” J. Geophys. Res. 65, 773 (1960).

Giacconi, Riccardo, Herbert Gursky, Frank R. Paolini, & Bruno B. Rossi, “Evidence for x Rays From Sources Outside the Solar System,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 9, 439-43 (1962).

Gursky, Herbert, Riccardo Giacconi, Frank R. Paolini, & Bruno B. Rossi, “Further Evidence for the Existence of Galactic x Rays,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 11, 530-35 (1963).

Giacconi, R., H. Gursky, J.R. Waters, G. Clark & B. Rossi, “Two Sources of Cosmic X-rays in Scorpius and Sagittarius,” Nature 204, 981-82 (1964).

Clark, G., G. Garmire, M. Oda, M. Wada, R. Giacconi, H. Gursky, & J. Waters, “Positions of Three Cosmic X-Ray Sources in Scorpio and Sagittarius,” Nature 207, 584-87 (1965).

Giacconi, R. & H. Gursky, “Observation of X-Ray Sources Outside the Solar System,” Space Science Reviews 4, 151-75 (1965).

Giacconi, R., et al, “Solar X-Ray Image Obtained Using Grazing-Incidence Optics,” Ap.J. 142, 1274-78 (1965).

Gursky, H., et al, “A Measurement of the Angular Size of the X-Ray Source SCO X-1,” Ap.J. 144 1249 (1966) [erratum].

Gursky, H., et al, “A Measurement of the Location of the X-Ray Source SCO X-1,” Ap.J. 146, 310-16 (1966).

Sandage, A., et al, “On the Optical Identification of SCO X-1,” Ap.J. 146, 316-21 (1966).

Oda, M., H. Bradt, H., G. Garmire, G. Spada, G., B.V. Sreekantan, H. Gursky, R. Giacconi, , P. Gorenstein, & J.R. Waters,“The Size and Position of the X-Ray Source in the Crab Nebula,” Ap.J. 148, L5-L11 (1967).

Gursky, H., P. Gorenstein, & R. Giacconi, “The Distribution of Galactic X-Ray Sources from Scorpio to Cygnus,” Ap.J. 150L, 75 (1967).

Giacconi, R., H. Gursky, & L.P. van Speybroeck, “Observational Techniques in X-Ray Astronomy,” Ann. Reviews of Astronomy & Astrophysics 6, 373 (1968).

Giacconi, R., W.P. Reidy, G.S. Vaiana, L.P. van Speybroeck, & T.F. Zehnpfennig,“Grazing-Incidence Telescopes for X-Ray Astronomy,” Space Sci. Rev. 9, 3-57 (1969).

Giacconi, R., et al, “An X-Ray Scan of the Galactic Plane from UHURU,” Ap.J. 165, 27 (1971).

Oda, M., P. Gorenstein, H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, E. Schreier, H. Tananbaum, & R. Giacconi, “X-Ray Pulsations from Cygnus X-1 Observed from UHURU,” Ap.J. 166, L1-L7 (1971).

Giacconi, R., H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, E. Schreier, & H. Tananbaum, “Discovery of Periodic X-Ray Pulsations in Centaurus X-3 from UHURU,” Ap.J. 167, L67-L73 (1971).

Kellogg, E., H. Gursky, S. Murray, H. Tananbaum, & R. Giacconi, “X-Ray Sources Near the Galactic Center Observed by UHURU,” Ap.J. 169, L99-L103 (1971).

Schreier, E., R. Levinson, H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, H. Tananbaum, & R. Giacconi, “Evidence for the Binary Nature of Centaurus X-3 from UHURU X-Ray Observations,” Ap.J. 172, L79-89 (1972). [reprinted in the centennial edition Ap.J. 525C, 1201 (1999) with a modern commentary by Harvey Tananbaum]

Gursky, H., A. Solinger, E.M. Kellogg, S. Murray, H. Tananbaum, R. Giacconi, & A. Cavaliere, “X-Ray Emission from Rich Clusters of Galaxies,” Ap.J. 173, L99-L104 (1972).

Tananbaum, H., H. Gursky, E.M. Kellogg, R. Levinson, E. Schreier, & R. Giacconi, “Discovery of a Periodic Pulsating Binary X-Ray Source in Hercules from UHURU,” Ap.J. 174, L143-L149 (1972).

Tananbaum, H., H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, R. Giacconi, & C. Jones, “Observation of a Correlated X-Ray Transition in Cygnus X-1,” Ap.J. 177, L5-L10 (1972).

Giacconi, R., S. Murray, H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, E. Schreier, & H. Tananbaum, “The UHURU Catalog of X-ray Souces,” Ap.J. 178, 281-308 (1972).

Forman, W., E. Kellogg, H. Gursky, H. Tananbaum, & R. Giacconi, , “Observations of the Extended X-Ray Sources in the Perseus and Coma Clusters from UHURU,” Ap.J. 178, 309-16 (1972).

Tucker, W., E. Kellogg, H. Gursky, R. Giacconi, & H. Tananbaum, “X-Ray Observations of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) from UHURU” Ap.J. 180, 715-24 (1973).

Giacconi, R., H. Gursky, E. Kellogg, R. Levinson, E. Schreier, & H. Tananbaum, “Further X-ray Observations of Hercules X-1 from UHURU,” Ap.J. 184, 227-36 (1973).

Giacconi, R. & H. Gursky, eds., X-Ray Astronomy (Reidel, Dordrecht, Holland, 1974).

Giacconi, R., et al, “The Third UHURU Catalog of X-Ray Sources,” Ap.J. Supp. 27, 37 (1974).

Giacconi, R. & R. Ruffini, eds., Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars and Black Holes (North-Holland, Amsterdam & NY, 1978).

Murray, S.S., W. Forman, C. Jones, & R. Giacconi, “Evidence for X-ray Emission from Superclusters of Galaxies Determined from UHURU,” Ap.J. 219, L89-L93 (1978).

Tananbaum, H. G. Peters, W. Forman, R. Ciacconi, & C. Jones, “UHURU Observations of X-ray Emission from Seyfert Galaxies” Ap.J. 223, 74-81 (1978).

Forman, W., C. Jones, S. Murray, & R. Giacconi, “The Detection of Large X-ray Halos in Clusters,” Ap.J. 225, L1-L4 (1978).

Giacconi, R. & R. Ruffini, eds., Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars and Black Holes. Proceedings of the 75th “Enrico Fermi” Summer School, Varenna on Lake Como, Italy, 14 - 26 July 1975 (North Holland, Amsterdam, 1978).

Forman, W., C. Jones, L. Cominsky, P. Julien, S. Murray, G. Peters, H. Tananbaum, & R. Giacconi,“ The Fourth UHURU Catalog of X-ray Sources,” Ap.J. Supp. 38, 357-412 (1978).

Giacconi, R., “Recent Advances in X-Ray Astronomy,” in Saburo Miyake, ed., 16th International Cosmic Ray Conference, Vol. 14 (Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, 1979), pp. N19-N41.

Giacconi, R., et al, “The Einstein (HEAO 2) X-Ray Observatory,” Ap.J. 230, 540-50 (1979).

Giacconi, R., et al, “A High-Sensitivity X-ray Survey Using the Einstein Observatory and the Discrete Source Contribution to the Extragalactic X-ray Background,” Ap.J. 234, L1-L7 (1979).

Tananbaum, H., et al, “X-ray Studies of Quasars with the Einstein Observatory,” Ap.J. 234, L9-L13 (1979).

Schreier, E.J., et al, “Einstein Observations of the X-ray Structure of Centaurus A - Evidence for the Radio-lobe Energy Source,” Ap.J. 234, L39-L43 (1979).

van Speybroeck, L., et al, “Observations of X-ray sources in M31,” Ap.J. 234, L45-L49 (1979).

Murray, S.S., G. Fabbiano, A. Epstein, R. Giacconi, & A.C. Fabian, “High-resolution X-ray Observations of the Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant with the Einstein Observatory,” Ap.J. 234, L69-L72 (1979).

Giacconi, Riccardo & Harvey Tananbaum, “The Einstein Observatory - New Perspectives in Astronomy,” Science 209, 865-76 (1980).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “X-ray Astronomy in the Einstein Era,” Space Science Reviews 30, 3-32 (1981).

Giacconi, R., et al, “The Einstein Observatory and Future X-ray Telescopes,” in & A. Hewitt, eds., Telescopes for the 1980s (Annual Reviews, Inc., Palo Alto, CA, 1981), pp. 195-278 [abstract].

Forman, W., J. Bechtold, W. Blair, R. Giacconi, L. van Speybroeck, & C. Jones, “Einstein Imaging Observations of Clusters with a Bimodal Mass Distribution,” Ap.J. 243, L133-L136 (1981).

Vaiana, G.S., et al, “Results from an Extensive Einstein Stellar Survey,” Ap.J. 245, 163-82 (1981).

Rosner, R., et al, “The Stellar Contribution to the Galactic Soft X-ray Background,” Ap.J. 249, L5-L9 (1981).

Feigelson, E.D., et al, “The X-ray Structure of Centaurus A,” Ap.J. 251, 31-51 (1981).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Extragalactic X-ray Astronomy with the Einstein Observatory,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 375, 210-34 (1981).

Maccacaro, T., et al, “A Medium Sensitivity X-ray Survey Using the Einstein Observatory - The log N-log S Relation for Extragalactic X-ray Sources,” Ap.J. 253, 504-11 (1982).

Griffiths, R.E., et al, “The Optical Identification Content of the Einstein Observatory Deep X-ray Survey of a Region in Pavo,” Ap.J. 269, 375-86 (1983).

Brown, Robert A. & Riccardo Giacconi, “New Directions for Space Astronomy,” Science 238, 617-19 (1987).

Giacconi, Riccardo & Giovanni Zamorani, “X-ray Background, Discrete Sources, and Diffuse Processes,” Ap.J. 313, 20-27 (1987).

Primini, F.A., S.S. Murray, J. Huchra, R. Schild, R. Burg, & R. Giacconi, “The CfA Einstein Observatory Extended Deep X-ray Survey,” Ap.J. 374, 440-55 (1991).

Rosati, Piero, Roberta Della Ceca, Richard Burg, Colin Norman, & Riccardo Giacconi, “A First Determination of the Surface Density of Galaxy Clusters at Very Low X-ray Fluxes,” Ap.J. 445, L11-L14 (1995).

Hasinger, G., R. Burg, R. Giacconi, M. Schmidt, J. Trumper, & G. Zamorani, “The ROSAT Deep Survey. I. X-ray sources in the Lockman Field,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 329, 482-94 (1998).

Schmidt, M., G. Hasinger, J. Gunn, D. Schneider, R. Burg, R. Giacconi, I. Lehmann, J. MacKenty, J. Trumper, & G. Zamorani, “The ROSAT Deep Survey. II. Optical Identification, Photometry and Spectra of X-ray Sources in the Lockman field,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 329, 495-503 (1998).

Rosati, Piero, Roberta Della Ceca, Colin Norman, & Riccardo Giacconi, “The ROSAT Deep Cluster Survey: The X-Ray Luminosity Function Out to z=0.8,” Ap.J. 492, L21-L24 (1998).

Hasinger, G., et al, “The ROSAT Deep Survey. IV. A Distant Lensing Cluster of Galaxies with a Bright Arc,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 340, L27-L30 (1998).

Zamorani, G., et al, “The ROSAT Deep Survey. V. X-ray Sources and Optical Identifications in the Marano Field,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 346, 731-52 (1999).

Cavaliere, A., R. Giacconi, & N. Menci, “X-Raying the Star Formation History of the Universe,” Ap.J. 528, L77-L80 (2000).

Lehmann, I., et al, “The ROSAT Deep Survey. III. Optical spectral properties of X-ray sources in the Lockman Hole,” Astronomy and Astrophysics 354, 35-54 (2000).

Böhringer, H., et al, “The Northern ROSAT All-Sky (NORAS) Galaxy Cluster Survey. I. X-Ray Properties of Clusters Detected as Extended X-Ray Sources,” Ap.J. Supp. 129, 435-74 (2000).

Giacconi, R., et al, “A Deep X-ray and Optical Survey of the Chandra Deep Field South,” Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana 72, 831-40 (2001).

Giacconi, R., et al, “First Results from the X-Ray and Optical Survey of the Chandra Deep Field South,” Ap.J. 551, 624-34 (2001).

Schreier, E.J., et al, “;Hubble Space Telescope Imaging in the Chandra Deep Field-South. I. Multiple Active Galactic Nucleus Populations,” Ap.J. 560, 127-38 (2001).

Tozzi, P., et al, “New Results from the X-Ray and Optical Survey of the Chandra Deep Field-South: II. The 300 Kilosecond Exposure,” Ap.J. 562, 42-51 (2001).

Rosati, P., et al, “The Chandra Deep Field-South: The 1 Million Second Exposure,” Ap.J. 566, 667-74 (2002).

Giacconi, Riccardo, et al, “Chandra Deep Field South: The 1 Ms Catalog,” Ap. J. Supp. 139, 369 (2002).

Norman, Colin, et al, “A Classic Type 2 QSO,” Ap.J. 571, 218-25 (2002).

Gilli, R., et al, “Tracing the Large-Scale Structure in the Chandra Deep Field South,” Ap.J. 592, 721-27 (2003).

Grogin, N.A., et al, “Hubble Space Telescope Imaging in the Chandra Deep Field-South. III. Quantitative Morphology of the 1 Million Second Chandra Counterparts and Comparison with the Field Population,” Ap.J. 595, 685-97 (2003).

Lehmer, B.D., et al, “The Extended Chandra Deep Field-South Survey: Chandra Point-Source Catalogs, ” Ap.J. Supp. 161, 21-40 (2005).

Wang, J.X., et al, “Most Hard-X-Ray-Selected Quasars in the Chandra Deep Fields are Obscured,” Ap.J. 657, 95-101 (2007).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “The High Energy X-ray Universe,” Publications of the National Academy of Science 107, 7202-07 (2010).

Borgani, S., P. Rosati, B. Sartoris, P. Tozzi, R. Giacconi, R. & the WFXT Team, “Astrophysics and Cosmology with Galaxy Clusters: the WFXT Perspective,” Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana Supplement 17, 36 (2011).

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Other Works: Popularizations, etc.

Giacconi, Riccardo, “X-Ray Astronomy,” The Physics Teacher 11 (3), 135-43 (1973).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Progress in X-Ray Astronomy,” Am. J. Phys. 44, 121-34 (1976) [1975 Richtmyer Memorial Lecture].

Giacconi, Riccardo, “The Einstein X-ray Observatory,” Scientific American 242 (2), 70-82 (1980).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “A Lesson Learned — HST,” Sky & Telescope 81 (1), 18 (1991).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “Telescope Costs,” Science 281, 1961 (1998).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “The role of ESO in European Astronomy,” The Messenger 91, 1-8 (1998).

Giacconi, Riccardo, “The Dawn of X-Ray Astronomy” [Nobel lecture], Nobel Foundation website [also in Rev. Mod. Phys. 75, 995-1010 (2003) and in International Journal of Modern Physics A 18, 3127-3149 (2003)].

Tucker, Wallace & Riccardo Giacconi, “The Birth of X-Ray Astronomy,” Mercury 14, 178 (1985) and Mercury 15, 13 (1986).