May 2007 - NASA's Chandra Sees Brightest Supernova Ever - NASA Science Update
I was Principal Investigator on the Chandra observation of SN 2006gy, which proved instrumental in showing that this supernova could have been the first example of a pair-production instability supernova. NASA held a televised press conference with lead author Nathan Smith and myself presenting the results, and it was one of the most successful Chandra press releases ever: it was broadcast in full on NASA TV and CSPAN2, with segments on numerous programs (including a mention on Late Show with David Letterman and National Public Radio's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me"); it made the front pages of several major news outlets (USA Today, Washington Post, cnn.com, and news.bbc.co.uk.); there was a two-page story in Time magazine; it was chosen by Time as the 3rd most important scientific discovery of 2007.