Anna Watts

Last updated

Anna Watts
Born
Anna Louise Watts
Education Bradford Girls' Grammar School
Alma mater University of Oxford (BA)
University of Southampton (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Neutron stars
Physics [1]
Institutions University of Amsterdam
Goddard Space Flight Center
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Ministry of Defence
Thesis The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars  (2003)
Doctoral advisor Nils Andersson [2]
Website staff.fnwi.uva.nl/a.l.watts/

Anna Louise Watts is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. She studies neutron stars and their thermonuclear explosions. [1] [3]

Contents

Education

Watts was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School. [4] She studied physics at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class degree from the University of Oxford in 1995. [5] She entered the science stream at the Ministry of Defence on a graduate scheme, where she worked for five years. [5] Watts completed her PhD [2] in physics supervised by Nils Andersson (physicist)  [ Wikidata ] in the general relativity group researching neutron stars. [5] [6]

Career and research

After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center. [6] [7] She then received a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich. [6] [8] In 2008 Watts joined the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy. [4]

Watts looks to understand the physics behind the violent dynamic events that occur on neutron stars. These include magnetic flares, thermonuclear explosions, and starquakes. [9] Her research lies at the intersection of theoretical physics and astrophysics. Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes. [10] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions. [11]

She is involved in the development future high-energy space telescopes. [9] Watts is part of the science team for the NASA probe Strobe-X. [12] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group. [13] [14] She is also chair of Network 3 for NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy. [15] She served on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology committee. [16] Watts has contributed to Times Higher Education and Vice . [17] [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Neutron star</span> Collapsed core of a massive star

A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star. It results from the supernova explosion of a massive star—combined with gravitational collapse—that compresses the core past white dwarf star density to that of atomic nuclei. Surpassed only by black holes, neutron stars are the second smallest and densest known class of stellar objects. Neutron stars have a radius on the order of 10 kilometers (6 mi) and a mass of about 1.4 M☉. Stars that collapse into neutron stars have a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses (M☉), or possibly more for those that are especially rich in elements heavier than hydrogen and helium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics</span> Research institute located in Garching, Germany

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nuclear astrophysics</span> Field of nuclear physics and astrophysics

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A quake is the result when the surface of a planet, moon or star begins to shake, usually as the consequence of a sudden release of energy transmitted as seismic waves, and potentially with great violence. The types of quakes include earthquake, moonquake, marsquake, venusquake, sunquake, starquake, and mercuryquake. They can also all be referred to generically as earthquakes.

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References

  1. 1 2 Anna Watts publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. 1 2 Watts, Anna Louise (2003). The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars. soton.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Southampton. OCLC   500094585. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.432636.
  3. ↑ Turolla, R; Zane, S; Watts, A L (2015). "Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (11): 116901. arXiv: 1507.02924 . Bibcode:2015RPPh...78k6901T. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/11/116901. ISSN   0034-4885. PMID   26473534. S2CID   15317167.
  4. 1 2 Wijngaarden, Evert Rol, Martin Heemskerk, David Hendriks, Timo Halbesma, Marcella. "API - Alumni - Dr. Anna Watts". api-alumni.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 3 Woods, Karen. "Dr Anna Watts" (PDF). University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Anna Watts, Mathematical Sciences". southampton.ac.uk. University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "NASA - NASA Sees Hidden Structure of Neutron Star in Starquake". nasa.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "dr. A.L. (Anna) Watts - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "ERC Starting Grants awarded to Faculty of Science researchers - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "The STROBE-X Team". nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "WG4 - Observatory Science". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "WG1 - Dense Matter". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "72nd Netherlands Astronomy Conference". astronomenclub.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "COST | The multi-messenger physics and astrophysics of neutron stars - Management Committee". cost.eu. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson". Times Higher Education (THE). 8 June 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  18. ↑ "For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare". Broadly. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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