Blakesley Burkhart

Last updated
Blakesley Burkhart
Alma mater University of Wisconsin–Madison
Known for Magnetohydrodynamics research
Scientific career
Fields Astrophysics
Thesis New frontiers for diagnosing the turbulent nature of the multiphase magnetized interstellar medium  (2014)
Doctoral advisor Alex Lazarian
Website www.mhdturbulence.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Blakesley Burkhart is an astrophysicist. She is the winner of the 2017 Robert J. Trumpler Award awarded by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, which recognizes a Ph.D. thesis that is "particularly significant to astronomy." She also is the winner of the 2019 Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy and the 2022 winner of The American Physical Society's Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award. The awards both cited her work on magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, and for developing innovative techniques for comparing observable astronomical phenomena with theoretical models. [1]

Contents

Career

Burkhart completed her Ph.D. in astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2014. Her dissertation explores "connections between theoretical, numerical, and observational understanding of [magnetohydrodynamic turbulence] as it applies to the neutral, ionized, and molecular interstellar medium." [2] She was a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. She has made contributions to many other fields outside of plasma turbulence, including star formation, the intergalactic medium, globular cluster formation, and UV space telescope design. [3] She worked with Mark R. Krumholz and others to develop a unified model of disc galaxies, working to explain why disc galaxies have a lower rate of star formation than is predicted by other models. [4] [5] In August 2018, she became an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute's Center for Computational Astrophysics. She has been working as an assistant professor at Rutgers University in the department of Physics and Astronomy since September 2019. [6]

She was the host of the 5 Minute Astronomy podcast from 89.9FM WORT in Madison. [7]

Selected publications

Selected lecture videos

Awards received

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extinction (astronomy)</span> Interstellar absorption and scattering of light

In astronomy, extinction is the absorption and scattering of electromagnetic radiation by dust and gas between an emitting astronomical object and the observer. Interstellar extinction was first documented as such in 1930 by Robert Julius Trumpler. However, its effects had been noted in 1847 by Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, and its effect on the colors of stars had been observed by a number of individuals who did not connect it with the general presence of galactic dust. For stars lying near the plane of the Milky Way which are within a few thousand parsecs of the Earth, extinction in the visual band of frequencies is roughly 1.8 magnitudes per kiloparsec.

Amy J. Barger is an American astronomer and Henrietta Leavitt Professor of Astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is considered a pioneer in combining data from multiple telescopes to monitor multiple wavelengths and in discovering distant galaxies and supermassive black holes, which are outside of the visible spectrum. Barger is an active member of the International Astronomical Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4323</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4323 is a lenticular or dwarf elliptical galaxy located about 52.5 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. The galaxy was discovered in 1882 by astronomer Wilhelm Tempel and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 7790</span> Open star cluster in the constellation Cassiopeia

NGC 7790 is a young open cluster of stars located some 10,800 light years away from Earth in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia. At this distance, the light from the cluster has undergone extinction from interstellar gas and dust equal to E(B – V ) = 0.51 magnitude in the UBV photometric system. NGC 7790 has a Trumpler class rating of II2m and the estimated age is 60–80 million years. It contains three cepheid variables: CEa Cas, CEb Cas, and CF Cas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WR 25</span> Binary star system in the constellation Carina

WR 25 is a binary star system in the turbulent star-forming region the Carina Nebula, about 6,800 light-years from Earth. It contains a Wolf-Rayet star and a hot luminous companion and is a member of the Trumpler 16 cluster. The name comes from the Catalogue of Galactic Wolf–Rayet Stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hercules A</span>

Hercules A is a bright astronomical radio source in the constellation Hercules corresponding to the galaxy 3C 348.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3783</span> Galaxy in the constellation Centaurus

NGC 3783 is a barred spiral galaxy located about 135 million light years away in the constellation Centaurus. It is inclined by an angle of 23° to the line of sight from the Earth along a position angle of about 163°. The morphological classification of SBa indicates a bar structure across the center (B) and tightly-wound spiral arms (a). Although not shown by this classification, observers note the galaxy has a luminous inner ring surrounding the bar structure. The bright compact nucleus is active and categorized as a Seyfert 1 type. This nucleus is a strong source of X-ray emission and undergoes variations in emission across the electromagnetic spectrum.

Laura A. Lopez is an associate professor of astronomy at Ohio State University studying the life cycle of stars. She was awarded the Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy in 2016, which is awarded by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) for outstanding research and promise for future research by a postdoctoral woman researcher.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3862</span> Galaxy in the constellation Leo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 3883</span> Galaxy in the constellation Leo

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 708</span> Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda

NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda and was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786. It is classified as a cD galaxy and is the brightest member of Abell 262. NGC 708 is a weak FR I radio galaxy and is also classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4294</span> Galaxy in the constellation Virgo

NGC 4294 is a barred spiral galaxy with flocculent spiral arms located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Virgo. The galaxy was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on March 15, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4302</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4302 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 8, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trumpler 27</span>

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Deidre A. Hunter is an American astronomer at Lowell Observatory. Her primary research area is tiny irregular galaxies — their origins, evolution and star-formation properties. She uses many parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, and includes spectroscopy in her approach.

Barbara Sue Ryden is an American astrophysicist who is a Professor of Astronomy at Ohio State University. Her research considers the formation, shape and structure of galaxies. She was elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2016.

Alexandre Lazarian is an astrophysicist. He is a professor of astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a joint appointment at the Department of Physics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

References

  1. 1 2 "AAS Names Recipients of 2019 Awards & Honors | American Astronomical Society". American Astronomical Society. 2019-01-08. Archived from the original on 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  2. Burkhart, Blakesley. "New frontiers for diagnosing the turbulent nature of the multiphase magnetized interstellar medium". Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin - Madision. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  3. "Burkhart Group Home Page".
  4. Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian (2018-07-23). "How disc galaxies work". phys.org. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  5. Krumholz, Mark R; Burkhart, Blakesley; Forbes, John C; Crocker, Roland M (2018-06-21). "A unified model for galactic discs: star formation, turbulence driving, and mass transport". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 477 (2): 2716–2740. arXiv: 1706.00106 . Bibcode:2018MNRAS.477.2716K. doi: 10.1093/mnras/sty852 . ISSN   0035-8711. S2CID   118882816.
  6. "CCA's Blakesley Burkhart Awarded Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy". Simons Foundation. 2019-01-09. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  7. "5 Minute Astronomy on Apple Podcasts". Apple Podcasts. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  8. "Next in Science: Astronomy and Astrophysics". Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. 2016-08-05. Retrieved 2019-05-30.
  9. "Blakesley Burkhart Wins Jansky Award| UW-Madison Astronomy". www.astro.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  10. "Graduate & Professional Research Fellowship Award Recipients". spacegrant.carthage.edu. Retrieved 2019-05-29.
  11. "ITC Postdoc Blakesley Burkhart's Thesis Wins Trumpler Award".
  12. "2020 Class of Packard Fellows Announced". The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. 2020-10-15. Retrieved 2020-12-02.
  13. "2021 Sloan Research Fellows".
  14. "APS Mayer Award". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2022-04-14.