After leading a multi-decade struggle to get the Kepler Observatory funded, built, launched into space, and successfully finding exoplanets, it’s good to see William Borucki receiving well-deserved recognition and reward:

•  The Shaw Prize – Top prizes for astronomy, life science and mathematics
• Shaw Prizes hail hunt for habitable planets – Science/AAAS
• Kepler’s Shaw Prize Winner Once in NASA’s Dog House – SpaceNews.com

From Space News:

What’s cooler than discovering thousands of exoplanets?

Winning a prestigious $1 million astronomy prize for discovering thousands exoplanets.

Cooler, still, considering that the prize winner, Kepler Science Principal Investigator William Borucki, was in NASA’s dog house two years before his planet-hunting telescope finally launched in 2009.

Borucki won the $1 million Shaw Prize in Astronomy on Monday (June 2) for his work discovering extrasolar planets and studying solar interiors. Dubbed the “Asian Nobel,” the $1 million prize is funded by Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Run Run Shaw, who also awards prizes in the life sciences and mathematics.

Kepler, a life-long labor of love for the 76-year-old Borucki, has discovered more than 4,000 exoplanets since launching in March 2009.