Research Interests
Dr. Binns is the Principal Investigator on the Heavy Nuclei eXplorer (HNX) satellite which is currently being studied as a Small Explorer (SMEX) NASA mission. His research is primarily in Cosmic Ray Astrophysics. He and the Washington University cosmic ray group have developed scintillating optical fibers coupled to image intensified CCD cameras or multi-anode photomultiplier tubes to obtain images of charged particle tracks. He is a coinvestigator on the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) experiment aboard the NASA ACE spacecraft that was launched in August, 1997, and was responsible for the development of the scintillating fiber hodoscope which is the trajectory detector on CRIS. The objective of the CRIS experiment is to measure the isotopic abundances of nuclei with 3 < Z < 30.

He is the Principal Investigator on the Trans-lron Galactic Element Recorder (TIGER) experiment that is planned for flight in Dec., 2001 on a long duration balloon from Antarctica. He was also a co-investigator on the Heavy Nuclei Experiment that was flown aboard the NASA High Energy Astronomy Observatory (HEAO-3) spacecraft launched in 1979. In addition, he has been an investigator on numerous other balloon-borne experiments. He was also a member of the ACCESS Investigators' Working Group that studied cosmic ray experiments planned for the Intl. Space Station.

Selected Publications:
Binns, W.R., Wiedenbeck, M.E., Christian, E.R., Cummings, A.C., George, J.S., Hink, P.L., Israel, M.H., Klarmann, J., Leske, R.A., Lijowski, M., Mewaldt, R.A., Stone, E.C., von Rosenvinge, T.T., Yanasak., N.E., "Galactic Cosmic Ray Neon Isotopic Abundances Measured by the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer (CRIS) on ACE", Adv. Space, Res. 27, 767, (2001).

Binns, W.R.; Hink, P.L.; Klarmann, J.; Lijowski, M.L.; Christian, E.R.; von Rosenvinge, T.T.; Cummings, A.C.; Leske, R.A.; Mewaldt,R.A.; Stone, E.C.; George, I.S.; Wiedenbeck M.E.; Yanasak, N.E. "Measurements of the Isotopic Abundances of Galactic Cosmic Rays and Their Implications for Cosmic Ray Origin, in LiBeB, Cosmic Rays, and Related x- and Gamma Rays" Astron. Soc. Pacific Conf. Series 171, 96 (1999).

Wiedenbeck, M.E.; Binns, W.R.; Christian, E.R.; Cummings, A.C.; Dougherty, B.L.; Hink, P.L.; Klarmann, J.; Leske, R.A.; Lijowski, M.; Mewaldt, R.A.; Stone, E.C.; Thayer, M.R.; von Rosenvinge, T.T.; Yanasak, N.E. "Constraints on the Time Delay between Nucleosynthesis and Cosmic-Ray Acceleration from Observations of Ni-59 and Co-59", Astrophy. J. Letters, 523, L61-64, (1999).

Stone, E.C.; Cohen, C.M.S.; Cook, W.R.; Cummings, A.C.; Gauld, B.; Kecman, B.; Leske, R.A.; Mewaldt, R.A.; Thayer, M.R.; Dougherty, B.L.; Grumm, R.L.; Milliken, B.D.; Radocinski, R.G.; Wiedenbeck, M.E.; Christian, E.C.; Shuman, S.; von Rosenvinge, T.T.; Binns, W.R., Dowkontt, P.; Epstein, J.W.; Hink, P.L.; Klarmann, J.; Lijowski, M.; Olevitch, M.A,. "The Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer for the Advanced Composition Explorer," Space Sci. Rev. 86, 283 (1998).

W. R. Binns, T. L. Garrard, P. S. Gibner, M. H. Israel, M. P. Kertzman, J. Klarmann, B. J. Newport, E. C. Stone, and C. J. Waddington, "The Abundances of Ultraheavy Elements in the Cosmic Radiation: Results from HEAO-3", (1989) The Astrophysical Journal, 346, 997.

Web site:

http://cosray2.wustl.edu/