Petter Hofverberg has been the main responsible person for the challenging drive system of the 28 m telescope CT5, that in particular allows the fast slewing essential for GRB observations. Petter spent well over a year in Heidelberg testing the drive hardware and developing the high-level control software. He then prepared the commissioning of the drive system including detailed work plans and testing software, followed by a two-month stay in Namibia where he installed and tested all hardware components, got the back-up drive system up and running, configured low level control software, performed first drive tests with the back-up drive system, implemented the drive system in the DAQ, tested the entire system and performed first CT5 observation runs. Follow-up visits to Namibia served for optimizing the performance of the drive system, training people on site to use the system, and implementing a number of speed-up features for GRB alerts. Petter also provided the documentation of the drive system, was trouble-shooting problems during observation, and supported the on-site crew, often during night time. Petter’s enormous engagement, and his technical, programming and organizational skills were essential for the smooth and efficient commissioning of the 28 m telescope.
H.E.S.S. Prize Hall of Fame
The H.E.S.S. Prize
With the H.E.S.S. Prize, the collaboration acknowledges young scientists (PhD, postdoc, junior staff) who made outstanding service contributions to the experiment. Such contributions might range from hardware maintenance to various aspects of data handling including outstanding analyses (the development of a new analysis technique allowing a measurement not possible before) or a key contribution to an important scientific discovery. The prize is awarded at every collaboration meeting through a confidential vote by the Collaboration Board.
List of H.E.S.S. Prize Winners
François Brun
François Brun made important contributions both to the commissioning and the analysis tools for the large (28 m) H.E.S.S. telescope, CT5. He was responsible for the Central Trigger system during the installation of CT5 and had to adapt the Central Trigger to allow the operations of CT5 together with the smaller telescopes. As the central trigger expert, he played a major role in the campaign leading to the first light of H.E.S.S. II array. He also worked on the calibration of H.E.S.S. I cameras and was able to identify and correct the cause of common mode noise in the pedestals. On the analysis side, François Brun has developed tools for the H.E.S.S. Galactic Plane Survey analysis. He has also developed original methods to identify variable sources of time-scales larger than a minute in H.E.S.S. fields. As a member (and former co-convenor) of the analysis and reconstruction working group, where he plays a major role, he has provided a support to a large number of on-going analyses.
Arnim Balzer
Arnim Balzer has served as the core data acquisition and array control system expert of the H.E.S.S. telescope system during his PhD and postdoc position in H.E.S.S. He has contributed significantly to on-call expert shift work, to the commissioning of the H.E.S.S. phase-2 system, and to the optimisation of the rapid follow-up system of external triggers. Arnim has also contributed to the H.E.S.S. data reconstruction framework and analysed the H.E.S.S. Crab nebula data recorded during a GeV flare measured with the Fermi-LAT telescope.