Emily Levesque

Last updated
Emily Levesque
Born1984
Taunton, Massachusetts, US
Alma mater MIT
University of Hawaii
Known for Astrophysics
Awards Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy
Sloan Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Fulbright Fellowship
Scientific career
Thesis Exploring the Environments of Long-Duration Gamma-Ray Bursts  (2010)
Doctoral advisor Lisa Kewley
Website www.emlevesque.com

Emily Levesque (born 1984 [1] ) is an American astronomer, author, and associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington. [2] [3] She is known for her work on massive stars and using these stars to investigate galaxy formation. She is also the author of three books, including the 2020 popular science book The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Levesque grew up in Taunton, Massachusetts. [5] She received her undergraduate degree in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2006, followed by a PhD in astronomy at the University of Hawaii in 2010. [6] [7]

Academic career

From 2010 to 2015, Levesque was a postdoctoral researcher at University of Colorado as an Einstein Fellow from 2010 to 2013, and then received a Hubble Fellowship from 2013 to 2015. [8] [9] She has been an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington since 2015. [2]

In 2015, Levesque, Rachel Bezanson, and Grant R. Tremblay published an influential [10] paper, [11] which critiqued the use of the Physics GRE as an admissions cutoff criterion for astronomy postgraduate programs by showing there was no statistical correlation between applicant's score and later success in their academic careers. Subsequently, the American Astronomical Society adopted the stance that the Physics GRE should not be mandatory for graduate school applications, [12] [13] and many graduate astronomy programs have since removed the Physics GRE as a required part of their graduate school applications. [10] [13]

Research

Size comparison of Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei, KY Cygni, and V354 Cephei according to Emily Levesque's publication Mukyv354.png
Size comparison of Betelgeuse, Mu Cephei, KY Cygni, and V354 Cephei according to Emily Levesque's publication

Levesque uses both observations and modeling in her work. In the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum, she uses the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain spectra of star-forming galaxies. [15] In the optical, she uses the Gemini and Keck observatories on Mauna Kea and the Las Campanas Observatories in Chile to study red supergiants in the Milky Way and in the Magellanic Clouds. She has discovered many new red supergiants, as well as the first candidate for a Thorne-Zytkow object (HV 2112). [16]

A 2017 conversation on Twitter between Levesque and fellow astrophysicist Jamie R. Lomax after an irruption of jumping spiders in Levesque's workplace[ where? ] led to informal experiments testing the animals' visual perception. Further information was provided by Nathan Morehouse, a researcher studying spider eyesight at the University of Cincinnati, who calculated that the spiders in question would be able to resolve the disc of the Moon. The cross-discipline interaction, which was said to constitute part of a suppositional field of 'arachno-astronomy', was lauded as a landmark moment on Science Twitter. [17] [18]

Awards and recognition

In 2014, Levesque received the Annie Jump Cannon Award for her innovative work on gamma ray bursts. [19] In 2017, she was awarded a Sloan Fellowship, awarded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to early-career scholars. [20]

Levesque was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in April 2022. [21] From March to June of 2023, Levesque worked at the University of Auckland as a U.S. Fulbright scholar researching Thorne–Żytkow objects. [22]

Levesque's writing is also award-winning. Understanding Stellar Evolution, her text based on a series of graduate lectures written with Henny Lamers was awarded the 2023 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award by the American Astronomical Society. [23]

Bibliography

Related Research Articles

A Thorne–Żytkow object, also known as a hybrid star, is a conjectured type of star wherein a red giant or red supergiant contains a neutron star at its core, formed from the collision of the giant with the neutron star. Such objects were hypothesized by Kip Thorne and Anna Żytkow in 1977. In 2014, it was discovered that the star HV 2112, located in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), was a strong candidate, though this view has since been refuted. Another possible candidate is the star HV 11417, also located in the SMC.

Solar radius is a unit of distance used to express the size of stars in astronomy relative to the Sun. The solar radius is usually defined as the radius to the layer in the Sun's photosphere where the optical depth equals 2/3:

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.

KW Sagittarii is a red supergiant star, located approximately 2,420 parsecs away from the Sun in the direction of the constellation Sagittarius. It is one of the largest known stars, with a diameter about 1,000 times larger than the Sun. If placed at the center of the Solar System, the star's surface would engulf Mars, coming close to Jupiter's orbit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas B. Suntzeff</span> American astronomer and cosmologist

Nicholas B. Suntzeff is an American astronomer and cosmologist. He is a university distinguished professor and holds the Mitchell/Heep/Munnerlyn Chair of Observational Astronomy in the Department of Physics & Astronomy at Texas A&M University where he is director of the Astronomy Program. He is an observational astronomer specializing in cosmology, supernovae, stellar populations, and astronomical instrumentation. With Brian Schmidt he founded the High-z Supernova Search Team, which was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2011 to Schmidt and Adam Riess.

Rosemary F. G. Wyse is a Scottish astrophysicist, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS), and Alumni Centennial Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Johns Hopkins University.

Anna Nikola Żytkow is a Polish astrophysicist working at the Institute of Astronomy of the University of Cambridge. Żytkow and Kip Thorne proposed a model for what is called the Thorne–Żytkow object, which is a star within another star. Żytkow in 2014 was part of the team led by Emily M. Levesque which discovered the first candidate for such an object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HV 2112</span> Small Magellanic Cloud star in the constellation Tucana

HV 2112 is a cool luminous variable star in the Small Magellanic Cloud. Until 2018, it was considered to be the most likely candidate for a Thorne–Żytkow object, but it is now thought to be an asymptotic giant branch star.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather A. Knutson</span> Astrophysicist

Heather A. Knutson is an astrophysicist and professor of planetary science at California Institute of Technology in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences. Her research is focused on the study of exoplanets, their composition and formation.

Jenny Greene is an Astrophysicist and Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. She is notable for her work on supermassive black holes and the galaxies in which they reside. Her work also involves a partnership with the Princeton Gravity Initiative and as co-founder and academic advisor to the Prison Teaching Initiative (PTI) at Princeton University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HV 11423</span> Star in the Small Magellanic Cloud in the constellation Tucana

HV 11423 is a red supergiant star in the Small Magellanic Cloud. It is about 200,000 light-years away towards the constellation of Tucana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stefi Baum</span> American astronomer

Stefi Baum is an American astronomer. The American Astronomical Society honored her work by awarding her the Annie J. Cannon Prize in 1993. Baum helped to develop the Hubble Space Telescope and, starting in 2004, was the director of Rochester Institute of Technology’s Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nidia Morrell</span> Argentine astronomer

Nidia Irene Morrell is an Argentine astronomer who is a permanent staff member at the Las Campanas Observatory in La Serena, Chile. She was a member of the Massive Stars research group led by Virpi Niemelä and the Hubble Heritage Project. Professionally, she is known for her numerous contributions related to the astrophysics of massive stars. She participates in the systematic search for variations of brightness in stellar objects, including the observation of a candidate for the Thorne–Żytkow object. She was also a member of the team that discovered the supernova ASASSN-15lh.

James E. Owen is an astrophysicist at Imperial College London who studies exoplanets and accretion disks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Rigby (astrophysicist)</span> American astrophysicist

Jane Rebecca Rigby is an American astrophysicist who works at the Goddard Space Flight Center and is Senior Project Scientist of the James Webb Space Telescope. She was selected one of Nature's 10 Ones to Watch in 2021 and Shape 2022. In 2024 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden.

References

  1. ↑ "About the Author". thelaststargazers.com. November 16, 2018.
  2. 1 2 "University of Washington Department of Astronomy: Emily Levesque". depts.washington.edu. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Emily Levesque – Fulbright US Scholar Award". fulbright.org.nz. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  4. ↑ Carter, Jamie (August 8, 2020). "The Last Stargazers? Why You Will Never See An Astronomer Looking Through A Telescope". Forbes. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  5. ↑ "Faculty Spotlight: Emily Levesque" . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Levesque, Emily – Department of Astronomy" . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Alumni (alphabetical listing)". University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  8. ↑ "Listing of all Hubble Fellows 1990–2016" . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Einstein, Chandra, and Fermi Fellows" . Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  10. 1 2 "The impact of the Physics GRE in astronomy graduate admissions". Astrobites. September 9, 2016. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  11. ↑ Levesque, Emily M.; Bezanson, Rachel; Tremblay, Grant R. (December 10, 2015). "Physics GRE Scores of Prize Postdoctoral Fellows in Astronomy". arXiv: 1512.03709 [physics.ed-ph].
  12. ↑ "President's Column: Rethinking the Role of the GRE | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  13. 1 2 "Some Astronomy programs dropping Physics GRE requirement – Physics GRE Discussion Forums". www.physicsgre.com. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  14. ↑ Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Olsen, K. A. G.; Plez, Bertrand; Josselin, Eric; Maeder, Andre; Georges Meynet (2005). "The Effective Temperature Scale of Galactic Red Supergiants: Cool, but Not as Cool as We Thought". The Astrophysical Journal. 628 (2): 973–985. arXiv: astro-ph/0504337 . Bibcode:2005ApJ...628..973L. doi:10.1086/430901. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   15109583.
  15. ↑ Zetterlund, Erika; Levesque, Emily M.; Leitherer, Claus; Danforth, Charles W. (January 1, 2015). "Ultraviolet ISM Diagnostics for Star-forming Galaxies. I. Tracers of Metallicity and Extinction". The Astrophysical Journal. 805 (2): 151. arXiv: 1504.00011 . Bibcode:2015ApJ...805..151Z. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/805/2/151. ISSN   0004-637X. S2CID   118991367.
  16. ↑ Levesque, Emily M.; Massey, Philip; Żytkow, Anna N.; Morrell, Nidia (September 1, 2014). "Discovery of a Thorne–Żytkow object candidate in the Small Magellanic Cloud". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters. 443 (1): L94–L98. arXiv: 1406.0001 . Bibcode:2014MNRAS.443L..94L. doi: 10.1093/mnrasl/slu080 . ISSN   1745-3925. S2CID   119192926.
  17. ↑ Yong, Ed. "Tiny Jumping Spiders Can See the Moon". The Atlantic. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  18. ↑ Drake, Nadia (June 7, 2017). "We've Learned Jumping Spiders Can See the Moon, Thanks to Twitter". Archived from the original on June 7, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  19. ↑ "American Astronomical Society: Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy". aas.org. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  20. ↑ "2017 Sloan Fellowships". Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  21. ↑ "Meet Our 2022 Fellows". John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. Retrieved April 12, 2022.
  22. ↑ "Emily Levesque | Fulbright Scholar Program". fulbrightscholars.org. Retrieved April 5, 2024.
  23. ↑ "Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award" . Retrieved April 4, 2024.
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