Madappa Prakash (born December 28, 1953, in Mysore) is an Indian-American nuclear physicist and astrophysicist, known for his research on the physics of neutron stars and heavy-ion collisions.
[3][4] Prakash's research deals with neutron stars and with atomic nuclei and nuclear matter under extreme conditions of density, temperature, and magnetic fields.
He develops equations of state, neutrino opacities, and transport characteristics in dense matter for studies of supernovae and binary mergers involving neutron stars and black holes.
[2]In 2001 Prakash was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "fundamental research into the properties of hot and dense matter, providing a basis for understanding relativistic heavy ion collisions and the structure and composition of neutron stars.
"[6] In 2022 he received the Hans A. Bethe Prize with citation: For fundamental contributions to the physics of hot and dense matter, and their implications for heavy ion collisions and multi-messenger observations of neutron star structure and evolution.