Brian J. Boyle

Last updated

Brian J. Boyle is a Scottish astrophysicist based in Australia since 1996. His primary research interests are in the fields of quasars, active galaxies and cosmology.

Contents

He has been involved in science-direction setting in Australia for over 15 years, contributing the mid-term review in 2000, [1] leading the development of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan 2006-15 [2] and facilitating the development of the Optical and Radio Astronomy Investment Plan for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy [3] in 2007. [4]

He was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian Astronomy in 2003 and elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2006. [5] [6]

Boyle is currently CSIRO SKA Director as well as the Project Director for the Australia–New Zealand SKA bid. [7] In these roles he plays a major part both nationally and internationally in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) program; a project to build the world's largest cm-wavelength radio telescope.

Education

Boyle attended school at Stewart's Melville College in Edinburgh, Scotland. He obtained a BSc in astrophysics from the University of Edinburgh in 1982 and a PhD from the Durham University in 1986. His thesis title was "The evolution and clustering of optically selected quasi-stellar objects." [8]

Career

Boyle has held positions at the University of Edinburgh, as Director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory (1996 to 2003) [9] and Director of CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility (2003 to 2009) before his appointment to CSIRO SKA Director in February 2009. [10]

Research

Boyle has published more than 300 papers in astronomy,[ citation needed ] and has undertaken research programs on the:

In 2007, Boyle was a member of one of the two teams of scientists who shared the 2007 Gruber Cosmology Prize. The team was awarded the prize for their discovery that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, leading to the idea of an expansion force, dubbed dark energy. [11]

Awards (Since 2000)

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radio telescope</span> Directional radio antenna used in radio astronomy

A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency portion of the electromagnetic spectrum emitted by astronomical objects, just as optical telescopes are the main observing instrument used in traditional optical astronomy which studies the light wave portion of the spectrum coming from astronomical objects. Unlike optical telescopes, radio telescopes can be used in the daytime as well as at night.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sandra Faber</span> American astrophysicist

Sandra Moore Faber is an American astrophysicist known for her research on the evolution of galaxies. She is the University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works at the Lick Observatory. She has made discoveries linking the brightness of galaxies to the speed of stars within them and was the co-discoverer of the Faber–Jackson relation. Faber was also instrumental in designing the Keck telescopes in Hawaii.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkes Observatory</span> Radio telescope observatory in New South Wales, Australia

Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. The 64 m dish was one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia" after 50 years of operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Square Kilometre Array</span> Radio telescope planned in Australia and South Africa

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), and headquarters, are located at the Jodrell Bank Observatory in the United Kingdom. The SKA cores are being built in the southern hemisphere, where the view of the Milky Way galaxy is the best and radio interference at its least.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope</span>

The Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) is a radio telescope operating at 843 MHz. It is operated by the School of Physics of the University of Sydney. The telescope is located in Hoskinstown, near the Molonglo River and Canberra, and was constructed by modification of the east–west arm of the former Molonglo Cross Telescope, a larger version of the Mills Cross Telescope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murchison Widefield Array</span> Radio telescope in Australia

The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a joint project between an international consortium of organisations to construct and operate a low-frequency radio array. 'Widefield' refers to its very large field of view. Operating in the frequency range 70–300 MHz, the main scientific goals of the MWA are to detect neutral atomic Hydrogen emission from the cosmological Epoch of Reionization (EoR), to study the sun, the heliosphere, the Earth's ionosphere, and radio transient phenomena, as well as map the extragalactic radio sky. It is located at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics</span> Astrophysics centre at the University of Manchester, England

The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, is among the largest astrophysics groups in the UK. It includes the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre. The centre was formed after the merger of the Victoria University of Manchester and UMIST which brought two astronomy groups together. The Jodrell Bank site also hosts the headquarters of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) - the International Governmental Organisation (IGO) tasked with the delivery and operation of the Square Kilometre Array, created on the signing of the Rome Convention in 2019. The SKA will be the largest telescope in the world - construction is expected to start at the end of this decade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronald Ekers</span> Australian radio astronomer

Ronald David Ekers FRS FAA is an Australian radio astronomer. His fields of specialty include the study of active galactic nuclei, cosmology, and radio astronomy techniques.

Govind Swarup was a pioneer in radio astronomy. In addition to research contributions in multiple areas of astronomy and astrophysics, he was a driving force behind the building of "ingenious, innovative and powerful observational facilities for front-line research in radio astronomy".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MeerKAT</span> 64 antenna radio telescope. South Africa (launched 2018)

MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope in Africa, and the locally designed and built MeerKAT was incorporated into the first phase of the SKA. MeerKAT was launched in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John O'Sullivan (engineer)</span> Australian engineer

John O'Sullivan is an Australian engineer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder</span> 36 radio telescopes in Murchison Observstory

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory</span> Observatory

The Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) was established by CSIRO in 2009. It lies in a designated radio quiet zone located near Boolardy Station in the Murchison Shire of Western Australia, about 800 kilometres (500 mi) north of Perth on the traditional lands of the Wajarri peoples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lisa Harvey-Smith</span> Australian astronomer

Lisa Harvey-Smith is a British-Australian astrophysicist, Australia's Women in STEM Ambassador and a Professor of Practice in Science Communication at the University of NSW. Her research interests include the origin and evolution of cosmic magnetism, supernova remnants, the interstellar medium, massive star formation and astrophysical masers. For almost a decade Harvey-Smith was a research scientist at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), including several years as the Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and later Project Scientist for the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Telescope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bärbel Koribalski</span> German astrophysicist (born 1964)

Dr. Bärbel Silvia Koribalski is a research scientist working on galaxy formation at CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), part of CSIRO's Astronomy & Space Science (CASS). She obtained her PhD at the University of Bonn in Germany and is noted for studies of nearby galaxies. In 2011 she received CSIRO's Newton Turner Award. She is also a project leader of the ASKAP HI All-Sky Survey, known as WALLABY.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Warrick Couch</span> Australian astronomer

Warrick John Couch is an Australian professional astronomer. He is currently a professor at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne. He was previously the Director of Australia's largest optical observatory, the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO). He was also the President of the Australian Institute of Physics (2015–2017), and a non-executive director on the Board of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization. He was a founding non-executive director of Astronomy Australia Limited.

Rachel Lindsey Webster, is an Australian astrophysicist who became the second female professor of physics in Australia. Her main focus areas are extragalactic astronomy and cosmology; she researches black holes and the first stars of the universe. Webster has a doctoral degree from Cambridge University and has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Toronto and University of Melbourne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vijay Kumar Kapahi</span> Indian astrophysicist (1944–1999)

Vijay Kumar Kapahi was an Indian astrophysicist and the director of the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, an autonomous division of Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. Known for his research on radio galaxies, quasars and observational cosmology, Kapahi was an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies – Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Sciences, India – as well as of the Maharashtra Academy of Sciences. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology for his contributions to physical sciences in 1987.

Gopal Krishna is an Indian radio astronomer and a senior professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics. Known for his studies on Radio galaxies and quasars, Krishna is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanie Johnston-Hollitt</span> Australian astrophysicist

Melanie Johnston-Hollitt is an Australian astrophysicist and professor. She has worked on the design, construction, and international governance of several radio telescopes including the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and the upcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA). She was the director of the Murchison Widefield Array until December 2020 and is a professor at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy at Curtin University and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. Since August 2020, Melanie Johnston-Hollitt is the director of the Curtin Institute for Computation.

References

  1. "Beyond 2000: The Way Ahead", ARC, retrieved 27 April 2011 from "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. National Committee for Astronomy of the Australian Academy of Science (November 2005). New Horizons: A Decadal Plan for Australian Astronomy 2006 – 2015 (PDF). Editorial Note: Commonwealth of Australia. p. 2. ISBN   0-85847-226-0 . Retrieved 28 January 2015. The Decadal Plan was edited for the National Committee of Astronomy by an Editorial Board comprising Brian Boyle (chair)...
  3. "Optical and Radio Astronomy". Archived from the original on 22 April 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  4. "Funding Agreement for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy", Astronomy Australia, retrieved 27 April 2011 from "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original on 17 February 2011. Retrieved 27 April 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "18 new Fellows elected". Australian Academy of Science. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  6. "Dr Brian Boyle: CSIRO SKA Director". CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility. 20 July 2022.
  7. "Australian and New Zealand SKA Coordination Committee (ANZSCC)". Commonwealth of Australia. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  8. Boyle, B. J. (1 January 1986). "Clustering and evolution of optically selected quasi-stellar objects". PhD Thesis. Bibcode:1986PhDT.......148B via NASA ADS.
  9. "About Us". The Anglo-Australian Telescope. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  10. "Dr Brian Boyle - CSIRO SKA Director". www.atnf.csiro.au. 20 April 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  11. "'Accidental revolutionaries' net US$500,000 cosmology prize", CSIRO, retrieved 15 April 2011 from ""Accidental revolutionaries" net US$500,000 cosmology prize (Media Release)". Archived from the original on 30 April 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2011.
  12. "Extract for BOYLE, Brian John Award:Centenary Medal". It's an Honour: Australia Celebrating Australians. Government of the Commonwealth of Australia.
  13. "Extract for BOYLE, Brian John Award:Public Service Medal". It's an Honour: Australia Celebrating Australians. Government of the Commonwealth of Australia.