Emma Bunce | |
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![]() Emma Bunce in 2016 | |
92nd President of the Royal Astronomical Society | |
In office 26 June 2020 –May 2022 | |
Preceded by | Mike Cruise |
Personal details | |
Born | Emma J. Bunce 1975 (age 49–50) |
Education | Davison High School Worthing College |
Alma mater | University of Leicester (MPhys,PhD) |
Awards |
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Scientific career | |
Fields | Planetary science Planetary magnetospheres [1] |
Institutions | University of Leicester |
Thesis | Large-scale current systems in the Jovian magnetosphere (2001) |
Doctoral advisor | Stan Cowley |
Website | le |
Emma J. Bunce OBE (born 1975) is a British space physicist and Professor of Planetary Plasma Physics at the University of Leicester. [1] She holds a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Her research is on the magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter. She is principal investigator (PI) of the MIXS instrument on BepiColombo , was deputy lead on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer proposal, and co-investigator on the Cassini–Huygens mission.
Bunce served as President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 26 June 2020 [2] to May 2022. [3] [4]
Bunce grew up in Worthing. [5] In 1989 she watched the Horizon documentary on Neptune with images taken by Voyager 2 and was inspired to become a space scientist. [6]
She was educated at Davison High School (a C of E girls school) and Worthing College (a sixth form college), where she graduated in 1994. [5] She studied physics with space science at the University of Leicester and earned her Master of Physics (MPhys) degree in 1998. [5]
In 1998 Bunce began her doctoral training with Stan Cowley, investigating the magnetosphere of Jupiter. [5] Her thesis, Large-scale current systems in the Jovian Magnetosphere, looked at the radial current systems of the middle magnetosphere of Jupiter. [7] She used data from Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 and Ulysses. [8] The interaction between Jupiter and the surrounding plasma environment is influenced by the magnetic field. On Jupiter, the plasma is mainly produced in the volcanic moon Io. [8]
After her graduate studies, Bunce worked as a postdoctoral researcher investigating the Kronian magnetosphere of Saturn in preparation for Cassini–Huygens. [8] In 2003 Bunce was awarded a Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council fellowship to study the magnetosphere of Saturn. [5] She continued to study Jupiter's polar auroral emissions. [9] [10] She was appointed to the faculty at the University of Leicester in 2005. [5]
Bunce was part of the Cassini–Huygens magnetometer team. [11] She was the first to analyse the UV aurorae of Saturn using the Hubble Space Telescope. [12] [13] The magnetosphere of Saturn rotates rapidly and plasma is produced via sputter of the icy moons. [5] She monitored the magnetospheric currents of Saturn in situ, identifying that there was a connection between the auroral oval and upward-directed field-aligned currents that flow near open and closed field lines. [13] She observed the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere of Saturn. [14] In 2009 she was elected to the Royal Astronomical Society Council [15] and delivered the society's Harold Jeffreys Lecture. [14] She discussed her work Jupiter-like aurorae found on saturn. [16]
She was promoted to reader in 2009 and professor in 2013. [5] She organised a celebration of ten years of Cassini–Huygens in 2014. [17] She is the Principal Investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer (MIXS) instrument. [18] [19] [20] [21] MIXS was built in Leicester, launched in 2015 and will travel to Mercury. [22] [23] She delivered the 2016 National Space Academy keynote lecture. [24] She is the principal investigator of the Mercury Imaging X-ray Spectrometer instrument on the European Space Agency BepiColombo mission (to Mercury) and deputy lead on the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer. [25] BepiColombo will help to explain some of the mysteries of Mercury, including finding volatile sulphur and potassium. [26] [27] She contributed to the book Mathematical Methods for the Physical Sciences: A University Level Introduction in 2018. [28]
Bunce was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2019; she began her term on 26 June 2020 [2] and served two years. [3]
Bunce has delivered several popular science lectures. [11] [29] [30] She has written for The Conversation . [31]
She spoke at the New Scientist Live event in 2018. [32]
She was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme The Life Scientific in June 2020. [33]
Bunce was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to astronomy and science education. [34] [35]
Her other awards and honours include:
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