Mike Edmunds

Last updated

Mike Edmunds
NationalityBritish
Alma mater University of Cambridge
Known for
Awards George Darwin Lectureship (2005)
Scientific career
Fields Astrophysics,
InstitutionsEmeritus Professor of the University of Cardiff

Mike (Michael) Edmunds FAS FInstP FLSW is a British astrophysicist, known for his research on the interpretation of the chemical composition of the Universe and the origin of interstellar dust.

Contents

Education

He received his undergraduate degree and his doctorate from the University of Cambridge.

Career

He has lived and worked in Wales for over 35 years. He is an Emeritus Professor and former Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy at Cardiff University in Wales. [1] He has served on many committees and panels of the UK Research Councils, The Royal Astronomical Society and the Institute of Physics. He was formerly a member of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales. [2]

Research

His main areas of research have been in the determination and interpretation of the chemical composition of galaxies and the Universe. He has also worked on the origin of interstellar dust. [3] In later years, he has focused on the history of astronomy and science within society.

Antikythera Mechanism Research Project

He heads the Antikythera Mechanism Research Project: [4] an international collaboration investigating the extraordinary astronomical machine dating from around the 200 BC, discovered by sponge divers over a century ago, off the Greek island of Antikythera. [5] He discussed this with Jim Al-Khalili when he was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific in 2024. [6]

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References

  1. Homepage: University of Cardiff.
  2. Wales, The Learned Society of. "Michael Edmunds". The Learned Society of Wales. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. An elementary model for the dust cycle in galaxies.
  4. Antikythera Mechanism Project team
  5. An Initial Assessment of the Accuracy of the Gear Trains in the Antikythera Mechanism
  6. "The chemical make-up of galaxies and decoding the Antikythera Mechanism".