Glenn White

Last updated

Glenn J. White is Professor of Astronomy at the Open University, UK, and Research Group Leader of the Astronomy Group at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. He carries out research on star formation and on exoplanets.

Contents

Scientific career

After studying radio astronomy at Jodrell Bank Observatory, the University of Manchester and at the University of Kent (1969–1972), he worked for a short period in x-ray astronomy at the University of Leicester, before joining Queen Mary College, University of London in 1976. He was Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of London (1993–2000), Professor of Space Science at the University of Kent (2000–2005), and is Professor of Astronomy at the Open University, a post held jointly with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory since 2005. He has also held visiting positions at the University of Tokyo (1987), the University of Stockholm (1998) and the University of Cambridge (1999). He was involved in the early development of astronomical millimetre and submillimetre wavelength astronomy in the 1970s and 1980s.

He is working on problems in star formation and submillimeter wavelength spectroscopy studies of the gas that forms stars, and has also studied the interaction of radio signals with plants and biological material. He is developing space missions to detect the atmospheres of Earth-like extrasolar planets, such as the European Space Agency's Darwin Mission, and the Japanese Space Agency's AKARI mission, [1] which was successfully launched in February 2006, and the Herschel Space Observatory.

Awards

Media

White is an occasional contributor to the media, including the television programme The Sky At Night , [5] The Sunday Times [6] and BBC One. [7]

He is a member of the Editorial board of Advances in Astronomy. [8]

Related Research Articles

Infrared astronomy Observation of infrared wavelengths

Infrared astronomy is a sub-discipline of astronomy which specializes in the observation and analysis of astronomical objects using infrared (IR) radiation. The wavelength of infrared light ranges from 0.75 to 300 micrometers, and falls in between visible radiation, which ranges from 380 to 750 nanometers, and submillimeter waves.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell British astrophysicist

Dame Susan Jocelyn Bell Burnell is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who, as a postgraduate student, discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967. The discovery eventually earned the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974; however, she was not one of the prize's recipients.

Great Observatories program Series of NASA satellites

NASA's series of Great Observatories satellites are four large, powerful space-based astronomical telescopes launched between 1990 and 2003. They were built with different technology to examine specific wavelength/energy regions of the electromagnetic spectrum: gamma rays, X-rays, visible and ultraviolet light, and infrared light.

Herschel Space Observatory ESA space telescope in service 2009–2013

The Herschel Space Observatory was a space observatory built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA). It was active from 2009 to 2013, and was the largest infrared telescope ever launched until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021. Herschel carries a 3.5-metre (11.5 ft) mirror and instruments sensitive to the far infrared and submillimetre wavebands (55–672 µm). Herschel was the fourth and final cornerstone mission in the Horizon 2000 programme, following SOHO/Cluster II, XMM-Newton and Rosetta.

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory

The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atlas Computer Laboratory in 1975 to create the Rutherford Lab; then in 1979 with the Appleton Laboratory to form the current laboratory.

(Geoffrey) Michael Rowan-Robinson is an astronomer, astrophysicist and Professor of Astrophysics at Imperial College London. He previously served as head of the astrophysics group until May 2007 and from 1981 to 1982, and as Gresham Professor of Astronomy.

Royal Observatory, Edinburgh Observatory

The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) of STFC, the Institute for Astronomy of the School of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Edinburgh, and the ROE Visitor Centre.

John Zarnecki

Jan Charles "John" Zarnecki, is an English space science professor and researcher. Since 2013, Zarnecki has been a Director of the International Space Science Institute. Between 2004 and 2013 he was a Professor of Space Science at the Open University, having previously been a professor and researcher at the University of Kent.

Nigel Henbest British astronomer

Nigel Henbest FRAS is a British astronomer, born in Manchester and educated in Northern Ireland and at Leicester University, where he studied physics, chemistry and astronomy. He did postgraduate research at the University of Cambridge before becoming a freelance science writer. He has written more than 40 books, many in collaboration with Heather Couper, and over 1,000 articles on astronomy and space which have been translated into 27 languages. Previously he has been Astronomy Consultant to New Scientist magazine, editor of the Journal of the British Astronomical Association and media consultant to the Royal Greenwich Observatory. Along with Couper and Stuart Carter, director of the Channel 4 series The Stars, he set up Pioneer Productions where he produced award-winning television programmes and series. Asteroid 3795 Nigel is named after him.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astronomy.

Gerhart "Gerry" Neugebauer was an American astronomer known for his pioneering work in infrared astronomy.

Louise Harra British physicist

Louise Harra is a Northern Irish physicist, born in Lurgan, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. She is the Director of the World Radiation Centre of the Physical Meteorological Observatory in Davos (PMOD/WRC) and affiliated professor at the Institute of Particle Physics and Astrophysics of ETH Zurich.

Thijs de Graauw Dutch astronomer

Mattheus Wilhelmus Maria (Thijs) de Graauw is a Dutch astronomer.

James Dunlop (astronomer)

James Scott Dunlop is a Scottish astronomer and academic. He is Professor of Extragalactic Astronomy at the Institute for Astronomy, an institute within the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh.

Christine D. Wilson is a Canadian-American physicist and astronomer, currently a University Distinguished Professor at McMaster University.

Haley Gomez MBE is a Welsh Professor of Astrophysics at Cardiff University. She studies the formation and evolution of cosmic dust using the Herschel Space Observatory. She is Deputy Head of the School of Physics and Astronomy. She was awarded an Order of the British Empire in the 2018 Queen’s Birthday Honour’s.

Stephen Eales is a professor of astrophysics at Cardiff University, where he is currently head of the Astronomy Group. In 2015, he was awarded the Herschel Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society for outstanding contributions to observational astrophysics. He also writes articles and books about astronomy.

Katherine Gudrun Isaak is a British astrophysicist and the Project Scientist for the European Space Agency Characterising Exoplanet Satellite mission (CHEOPS). She is based at European Space Research and Technology Centre.

Professor Gillian Wright MBE, FRSE is a Scottish astronomer who is currently the director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, UK. She has also been involved in the development and construction of the James Webb Space Telescope as the European Principal Investigator for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). In 2006 Wright was appointed MBE for services to science.

References

  1. "ASTRO-F Mission". Akari.open.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  2. Royal Astronomical Society. "Winners of the 2014 awards, medals and prizes - full details". Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  3. The British Interplanetary Society. "Sir Arthur Clarke Awards 2013 Winners". Bis-space.com. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  4. [ dead link ]
  5. "BBC Media Player". Bbc.co.uk . Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  6. "Science | The Times". Timesonline.co.uk. 3 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  7. "Science/Nature | New 'super-Earth' found in space". BBC News. 25 April 2007. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  8. "Advances in Astronomy — An Open Access Journal". Hindawi.com. Retrieved 21 November 2013.