"nanoflares", miniature brightenings resembling solar flares that would occur all over the surface of the Sun. Parker's theory became a leading candidate to explain the problem. Personal life Parker was married to his wife, Niesje, for 67 years, with whom he had two children. He died in Chicago on March 15, 2022, at the age of 94. Honors and awards 1969: Arctowski Medal of the National Academy of Sciences 1969: Henry Norris Russell Lectureship of the American Astronomical Society 1978: George Ellery Hale Prize, Solar Physics Division of the American Astronomical Society, first time this prize was awarded 1979: Chapman Medal, Royal Astronomical Society 1989: National Medal of Science 1990: William Bowie Medal 1992: Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society 1997: Bruce Medal 2003: Kyoto Prize 2003: James Clerk Maxwell Prize of the American Physical Society. Citation: "For seminal contributions in plasma astrophysics, including predicting the solar wind, explaining the solar dynamo, formulating the theory of magnetic reconnection, and the instability which predicts the escape of the magnetic fields from the galaxy." 2010: Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. 2017: NASA renamed its Solar Probe Plus to Parker Solar Probe after Parker, the first time that a space vessel was named after a living person. Parker was present at its August 12, 2018, launch. 2018: Medal for Exceptional Achievement in Research of the American Physical Society. Citation: "For fundamental contributions to space physics, plasma physics, solar physics and astrophysics for over 60 years." 2020: Crafoord Prize in Astronomy Books Cosmical Magnetic Fields: Their Origin and their Activity, 1979, Oxford University Press. . Spontaneous Current Sheets in Magnetic Fields: With Applications to Stellar X-rays, 1994, Oxford University Press. . Conversations on Electric and Magnetic Fields in the Cosmos, 2007, Princeton University Press. . References 1927 births 2022 deaths 20th-century American astronomers 21st-century American astronomers American astrophysicists American plasma physicists Fellows of the American Physical Society Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Foreign Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Kyoto laureates in Basic Sciences Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Michigan State University alumni National Medal of Science laureates People from Houghton, Michigan Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Scientists from Michigan University of Chicago faculty University of Utah faculty Writers from Michigan