Jo Dunkley

Last updated

Jo Dunkley
OBE FRS
Jo Dunkley delivers plenary lecture (19566551321) (cropped).jpg
Jo Dunkley delivering a plenary lecture in 2015
Born
Joanna Dunkley

1979or1980(age 45–46) [1]
Education North London Collegiate School [1]
Alma mater University of Cambridge (MSci)
University of Oxford (DPhil)
Partner Faramerz Dabhoiwala [2]
Childrentwo [2]
Awards
Scientific career
Fields Cosmology
Cosmic microwave background
Neutrinos [3]
Institutions Princeton University
University of Oxford
Thesis Modern methods for cosmological parameter estimation : beyond the adiabatic paradigm  (2005)
Doctoral advisor Pedro G. Ferreira
Notable students Renée Hložek
Website physics.princeton.edu/~jdunkley

Joanna Dunkley is a British astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at Princeton University. She works on the origin of the Universe and the Cosmic microwave background (CMB) [4] using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Simons Observatory and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). [3] [5]

Contents

Education

Dunkley was educated at North London Collegiate School [1] and the University of Cambridge, where she graduated in 2001 with a Master of Science (MSci) degree in Natural Sciences (Theoretical Physics). She was an undergraduate student of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. [6] She moved to Oxford for postgraduate study where she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from the University of Oxford in 2005 for research supervised by astrophysicist Pedro G. Ferreira. She was a postgraduate student of Magdalen College, Oxford. [7]

Research and career

Her research is in cosmology, studying the chronology of the universe using the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, the Simons Observatory, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). [8] [3] [5]

After her DPhil, she joined Princeton University as a postdoctoral research fellow in 2006, working with David Spergel and Lyman Page on NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). [9] [10] In an interview at Princeton in 2017, Spergel said she quickly "made major contributions to the analysis that led to the development of what we now think of as the standard model of cosmology." [9] Soon after she began working with the European Space Agency (ESA) Planck satellite, [11] which produced a higher-resolution view of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) compared to WMAP. [12]

Atacama Cosmology Telescope from distance Atacama Cosmology Telescope from distance.JPG
Atacama Cosmology Telescope from distance

Dunkley moved to Oxford in 2007 and was promoted to Professor of Astrophysics in 2014. [6] Dunkley led analysis for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile, using gravitational lensing to identify dark matter. [9] At Oxford her work included constraints on the number of possible neutrino species in the world. [13] The images of the CMB, released in 2013, showed the universe at only 400,000 years old. [14] Her research combines theoretical physics with statistical analysis and uses her models to understand the universe from cosmological observations. [15] Alongside estimating how much the universe weighs, Dunkley can identify the proportions of dark energy and dark matter. [16] She used gravitational lensing within the CMB as evidence for dark energy within the universe, selected by Physics Today as a highlight of 2011. [17]

Dunkley rejoined Princeton in 2016. [18] Her new research, using the Simons Observatory, looks for "new physics, complexities and extra particles that could have existed when the universe was very young,". [19] In 2017, she was awarded the Breakthrough Prize for Physics with 22 members of the NASA WMAP Science Team. [20]

Public engagement

Dunkley has given numerous public lectures and seminars. [21] She has made appearances on BBC Stargazing Live and Dara Ó Briain's Science Club. [22] [23] [24] She is mentioned in Pippa Goldschmidt's I Am Because You Are: An anthology of stories celebrating the centenary of the General Theory of Relativity. [25] Her first book, Our Universe: An Astronomer's Guide was published in 2019. [1] [26] [27] She will deliver a series of workshops and talks for students to raise awareness of women's contributions to astronomy as part of a book tour. [19]

Awards and honours

Dunkley has won several awards and honours including:

Personal life

Dunkley has two children with her partner, the historian Faramerz Dabhoiwala. [2] [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cosmic microwave background</span> Trace radiation from the early universe

The cosmic microwave background, or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dark. However, a sufficiently sensitive radio telescope detects a faint background glow that is almost uniform and is not associated with any star, galaxy, or other object. This glow is strongest in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The accidental discovery of the CMB in 1965 by American radio astronomers Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson was the culmination of work initiated in the 1940s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe</span> NASA satellite of the Explorer program

The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), originally known as the Microwave Anisotropy Probe, was a NASA spacecraft operating from 2001 to 2010 which measured temperature differences across the sky in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) – the radiant heat remaining from the Big Bang. Headed by Professor Charles L. Bennett of Johns Hopkins University, the mission was developed in a joint partnership between the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Princeton University. The WMAP spacecraft was launched on 30 June 2001 from Florida. The WMAP mission succeeded the COBE space mission and was the second medium-class (MIDEX) spacecraft in the NASA Explorer program. In 2003, MAP was renamed WMAP in honor of cosmologist David Todd Wilkinson (1935–2002), who had been a member of the mission's science team. After nine years of operations, WMAP was switched off in 2010, following the launch of the more advanced Planck spacecraft by European Space Agency (ESA) in 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rashid Sunyaev</span> Russian astronomer (born 1943)

Rashid Alievich Sunyaev is a German, Soviet, and Russian astrophysicist of Tatar descent. He got his MS degree from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) in 1966. He became a professor at MIPT in 1974. Sunyaev was the head of the High Energy Astrophysics Department of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and has been chief scientist of the Academy's Space Research Institute since 1992. He has also been a director of the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Garching, Germany since 1996, and Maureen and John Hendricks Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton since 2010. In February 2022, he signed an open letter from Russian scientists and science journalists condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Observational cosmology</span> Study of the origin of the universe (structure and evolution)

Observational cosmology is the study of the structure, the evolution and the origin of the universe through observation, using instruments such as telescopes and cosmic ray detectors.

<i>Planck</i> (spacecraft) Space observatory

Planck was a space observatory operated by the European Space Agency (ESA) from 2009 to 2013. It was an ambitious project that aimed to map the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) at microwave and infrared frequencies, with high sensitivity and angular resolution. The mission was highly successful and substantially improved upon observations made by the NASA Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atacama Cosmology Telescope</span> Telescope in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) was a cosmological millimeter-wave telescope located on Cerro Toco in the Atacama Desert in the north of Chile. ACT made high-sensitivity, arcminute resolution, microwave-wavelength surveys of the sky in order to study the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the relic radiation left by the Big Bang process. Located 40 km from San Pedro de Atacama, at an altitude of 5,190 metres (17,030 ft), it was one of the highest ground-based telescopes in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Spergel</span> American astrophysicist

David Nathaniel Spergel is an American theoretical astrophysicist and the Emeritus Charles A. Young Professor of Astronomy on the Class of 1897 Foundation at Princeton University. Since 2021, he has been the President of the Simons Foundation. He is known for his work on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project. In 2022, Spergel accepted the chair of NASA's UAP independent study team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Smoot</span> American astrophysicist and cosmologist

George Fitzgerald Smoot III is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, Nobel laureate, and the second contestant to win the $1 million prize on Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for his work on the Cosmic Background Explorer with John C. Mather that led to the "discovery of the black body form and anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles L. Bennett</span> American astronomer

Charles L. Bennett is an American observational astrophysicist. He is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, the Alumni Centennial Professor of Physics and Astronomy and a Gilman Scholar at Johns Hopkins University. He is the Principal Investigator of NASA's highly successful Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP).

Edward L. (Ned) Wright is an American astrophysicist and cosmologist. He has worked on space missions including the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) projects.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyman Page</span> American astrophysicist

Lyman Alexander Page, Jr. is the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of Physics at Princeton University. He is an expert in observational cosmology and one of the original co-investigators for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) project that made precise observations of the electromagnetic radiation from the Big Bang, known as cosmic microwave background radiation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Licia Verde</span> Italian cosmologist and theoretical physicist (born 1971)

Licia Verde is an Italian cosmologist and theoretical physicist and currently ICREA Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Barcelona. Her research interests include large-scale structure, dark matter, dark energy, inflation and the cosmic microwave background.

Michele Limon is an Italian research scientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Limon studied physics at the Università degli Studi di Milano in Milan, Italy and completed his post-doctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley. He has been conducting research for more than 30 years and has experience in the design of ground, balloon and space-based instrumentation. His academic specialties include Astrophysics, Cosmology, Instrumentation Development, and Cryogenics.

Rachel Bean is a cosmologist, theoretical astrophysicist, professor of astronomy, and senior associate dean for math and science at the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiranya Peiris</span> British astrophysicist (born 1974)

Hiranya Vajramani Peiris is a British astrophysicist at the University of Cambridge, where she holds the Professorship of Astrophysics (1909). She is best known for her work on the cosmic microwave background radiation, and interdisciplinary links between cosmology and high-energy physics. She was one of 27 scientists who received the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics in 2018 for their "detailed maps of the early universe".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renée Hložek</span> South African cosmologist

Renée Hložek is a South African cosmologist, Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, and an Azrieli Global Scholar within the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. She studies the cosmic microwave background, Type Ia supernova and baryon acoustic oscillations. She was named a Sloan Research Fellow in 2020, and received the Rutherford Memorial Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. Hložek identifies as bisexual.

Christopher Michael Hirata is a Japanese-American cosmologist and astrophysicist.

Gary F. Hinshaw is a cosmologist and physics professor at the University of British Columbia. Hinshaw worked on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) whose observations of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) have provided significant insights into cosmology. He holds both US and Canadian citizenship.

Norman C. Jarosik is a US astrophysicist. He has worked on the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) whose observations of Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) have provided significant insights into cosmology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Erminia Calabrese</span>

Erminia Calabrese, FLSW, is a Professor of Astronomy and the Director of Research at Cardiff University School of Physics and Astronomy. She works in observational cosmology using the cosmic microwave background radiation to understand the origins and evolution of the universe. In 2024 she became a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales, and in 2022 she was awarded the Institute of Physics Fred Hoyle medal and the Learned Society of Wales Dillwyn medal.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Law, Katie (2019). "Astrophysics professor Jo Dunkley on the complexities of the universe and her mission to get women into science". London Evening Standard . London. Archived from the original on 31 January 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 Schussler, Jennifer (29 February 2012). "This Revolution Was British, Fired by Libidos". The New York Times . New York City. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Jo Dunkley publications indexed by Google Scholar OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  4. ↑ Staggs, Suzanne; Dunkley, Jo; Page, Lyman (2018). "Recent discoveries from the cosmic microwave background: a review of recent progress". Reports on Progress in Physics. 81 (4): 044901. Bibcode:2018RPPh...81d4901S. doi:10.1088/1361-6633/aa94d5. ISSN   0034-4885. PMID   29051392. S2CID   4028322.
  5. 1 2 Jo Dunkley publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  6. 1 2 Dunkley, Jo (2015). "Jo Dunkley CV" (PDF). princeton.edu. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  7. ↑ Dunkley, Joanna (2005). Modern methods for cosmological parameter estimation : beyond the adiabatic paradigm. copac.jisc.ac.uk (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. OCLC   500732473. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.441310. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Jo Dunkley – About". physics.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 "Understanding the universe: Astrophysicist Dunkley shines through her research". Princeton University. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  10. ↑ Komatsu, E.; Dunkley, J.; Nolta, M. R.; Bennett, C. L.; Gold, B.; Hinshaw, G.; Jarosik, N.; Larson, D.; Limon, M.; Page, L.; Spergel, D. N.; Halpern, M.; Hill, R. S.; Kogut, A.; Meyer, S. S.; Tucker, G. S.; Weiland, J. L.; Wollack, E.; Wright, E. L. (2009). "Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation". The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 180 (2): 330–376. arXiv: 0803.0547 . doi:10.1088/0067-0049/180/2/330. ISSN   0067-0049. S2CID   17581520.
  11. ↑ Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartlett, J. G.; Bartolo, N.; Battaner, E.; et al. (2016). "Planck2015 results". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 594: A13. arXiv: 1502.01589 . doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201525830. ISSN   0004-6361. S2CID   119262962.
  12. ↑ "New view of Universe from Planck | University of Oxford Department of Physics". University of Oxford. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  13. 1 2 Anon. "2013 Maxwell medal and prize". iop.org. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  14. ↑ Morgan, Gregg (21 March 2013). "New 'Big Bang' image explained: 'This is what the universe looked like'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 13 February 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  15. ↑ "Jo Dunkley | Voices From Oxford". voicesfromoxford.org. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  16. ↑ "Measuring the Universe". voicesfromoxford.org. Archived from the original on 20 January 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  17. ↑ "Dark energy spotted in the cosmic microwave background". physicsworld.com. 15 July 2011. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  18. ↑ University, Princeton. "Understanding the universe: Astrophysicist Dunkley shines through her research". research.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 15 March 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  19. 1 2 Zen, Lillienne (2016). "The astrophysicist on a mission to get more women into physics : Soapbox Science". Nature. Archived from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Princeton scientists share Breakthrough Prize for mapping the early universe". Princeton University. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  21. ↑ "Talks – Jo Dunkley". physics.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  22. ↑ "Our model of the Universe". nam2014.org. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  23. ↑ "Before the Beginning, After the End". iai.tv. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  24. ↑ Long, Max. "BBC brings Stargazing to Oxford". cherwell.org. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  25. ↑ Goldshmidt, Pippa; Hershman, Tania (2015). I am because you are : a collection of new writing. Glasgow. ISBN   978-1910449271. OCLC   931161608.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  26. ↑ Dunkley, Jo (2019). Our Universe: An Astronomer's Guide. Pelican Books. ISBN   9780674984288. OCLC   1046067886. Archived from the original on 2 August 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2019.
  27. ↑ "Our Universe – Jo Dunkley". hup.harvard.edu. Harvard University Press . Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  28. ↑ Anon (2024). "Professor Jo Dunkley OBE FRS". royalsociety.org. Royal Society.
  29. ↑ "Breakthrough Prize – Winners of the 2020 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics And Mathematics Announced". breakthroughprize.org. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  30. ↑ Anon (2018). "Professor Joanna DUNKLEY". The London Gazette . London.
  31. ↑ Qian, Kristin (2017). "University scientists share $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics". The Daily Princetonian . Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  32. ↑ Dunkley, Joanna (2016) Our window on the Universe – Rosalind Franklin Lecture 2016 by Professor Jo Dunkley on YouTube
  33. ↑ Dunkley, Jo (2016). "Our window on the Universe". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  34. ↑ Anon (2015). "Joanna Dunkley". royalsociety.org. Royal Society . Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  35. ↑ "Awards Made 2015" (PDF). leverhulme.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  36. ↑ Smith, Keith. "Winners of the 2014 awards, medals and prizes – full details". ras.org.uk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  37. ↑ "NASA – NASA's WMAP Science Team Awarded 2012 Gruber Cosmology Prize". nasa.gov. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  38. ↑ "European Commission : CORDIS : Projects and Results : Fundamental Physics from the Cosmic Microwave Background". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  39. ↑ "NASA – 2007 NASA Honor Awards Ceremony". nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
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