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LIVERMORE – Federal officials announced today that four Bay Area scientists have been recognized with awards for their work in atomic energy. 

U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham named seven winners of the prestigious E.O. Lawrence Award, including the four local scientists.  

They are Bruce T. Goodwin and Benjamin D. Santer of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Keith O. Hodgson of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center at Stanford University, and Saul Pearlmutter of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley. 

Goodwin, a physicist, will receive the award in the national security category for his work on the complex dynamics of triggers of thermonuclear weapons. 

Santer, also a physicist, was recognized in the environmental science and technology category for his research into the effects of human activity on the Earth's climate. 

Hodgson, a chemist and structural biologist, won in the chemistry category for his contributions to the investigation of biological structure and function. 

Pearlmutter, an astrophysicist, will receive the award in physics for his discovery through study of supernovae that the expansion of the universe is speeding up rather than slowing down. 

The E.O. Lawrence award was established in 1959 to honor the memory of Dr. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, who invented the cyclotron particle accelerator. 

Winners each receive a gold medal, a citation, and $25,000. The prizes will be awarded during a ceremony to take place in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 28.