Priscilla Diane Chapman Frisch, a longtime research professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago, passed away on April 2. She was 81 years old.
Dr. Frisch was a faculty member at the University of Chicago’s department of astronomy and astrophysics for nearly 50 years. Her tenure began in 1974, when she was given an office in the university’s laboratory of space and astronomy. Primarily, she focused her research on the heliosphere, the region of space influenced by solar wind and the sun’s magnetic field. In 2006, she published Solar Journey: The Significance of Our Galactic Environment for the Heliosphere and Earth (Springer).
As a leading expert in heliosphere research, Dr. Frisch frequently collaborated with NASA. In 2007, she worked on the currently orbiting Interstellar Boundary Explorer Mission. In 2014, she joined the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe Mission. Set to launch later this year, the mission will study the acceleration of energetic particles and the interaction of solar wind with the local interstellar medium.
A native of Los Angeles, Dr. Frisch began her undergraduate education at the University of Colorado Boulder. She later transferred to the University of California, Berkeley, where she earned her bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. in astronomy.