J. Anthony Tyson

Last updated
J. Anthony Tyson
Born
John Anthony Tyson

1940 (age 85–86)
Alma mater Stanford University (BS)
University of Wisconsin (PhD)
Known for Weak gravitational lensing
Awards Aaronson Memorial Prize (1969)
Nature's 10 (2025)
Scientific career
Fields Astronomy
Institutions University of California, Davis
Website tyson.ucdavis.edu

John Anthony Tyson (known also as Tony Tyson; born 1940 [1] ) is an American physicist and astronomer, professor of University of California, Davis, and chief scientist of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. He pioneered the technique of weak gravitational lensing. [2]

Contents

Education

Tyson received in 1962 his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and in 1967 his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin.[ citation needed ]

Career

He was a postdoc from 1967 to 1969 at the University of Chicago. He was then a member of the technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories from 1969 to 1985. [3] In 1985 he became a distinguished member of the technical staff (a position for experienced scientists and engineers in major U. S. companies) at Bell Laboratories until 2004. Since 2004 he has been a professor at the University of California, Davis.[ citation needed ]

In the late 1970s he applied CCDs to astronomy, discovering the faint blue galaxies. [3] Using these distant galaxies he made the first maps of dark matter using weak gravitational lensing. Tyson built the Big Throughput Camera, which was used to discover dark energy. In the 1990s he started a project to build a next generation sky survey, and directed the project for 15 years. He is now the chief scientist for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. [4]

His research interests are cosmology, dark matter, dark energy, observational optical astronomy, experimental gravitational physics, and new instruments.

Honors and awards

References

  1. 1 2 "179223 Tonytyson". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  2. 1 2 "Nature's 10". www.nature.com. Retrieved 2025-12-09.
  3. 1 2 3 Castelvecchi, Davide (2025-12-08). "The visionary physicist who gave us a new way to view the cosmos" . Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-025-03840-9. ISSN   1476-4687.
  4. ↑ J. Anthony Tyson, Department of Physics, University of California at Davis
  5. ↑ "J. Anthony Tyson". Member Directory, National Academy of Sciences.
  6. ↑ https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?year=2000;smode=advanced;startDoc=21
  7. ↑ "WGSBN Bulletin Archive". Working Group Small Body Nomenclature. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 8 February 2022. (Bulletin #15)
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