Max Pettini

Last updated

Max Pettini (born 15 June 1949) is a professor of observational astronomy at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge. [1]

Pettini was born in Rome but studied for a BSc in physics then a PhD in astrophysics at University College London. He has worked in the UK ever since, apart from four years at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Epping, New South Wales from 1987 to 1991, and has British citizenship. [1]

His early research obtained observational evidence that verified a prediction that our galaxy is surrounded by a halo of hot ionised gas. [2]

Pettini was awarded the Herschel Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2008. In May 2010, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. [2]

Related Research Articles

Erwin Finlay-Freundlich German astronomer

Erwin Finlay-Freundlich FRSE FRAS was a German astronomer, a pupil of Felix Klein. Freundlich was a working associate of Albert Einstein and introduced experiments for which the general theory of relativity could be tested by astronomical observations based on the gravitational redshift.

Annette Mairi Nelson Ferguson FRSE is a Scottish observational astrophysicist who specialises in the area of galaxy evolution. She is a professor at the Institute for Astronomy, Edinburgh, and holds the Personal Chair in Observational Astrophysics at the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Edinburgh.

Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge

The Institute of Astronomy (IoA) is the largest of the three astronomy departments in the University of Cambridge, and one of the largest astronomy sites in the UK. Around 180 academics, postdocs, visitors and assistant staff work at the department.

The Jackson-Gwilt Medal is an award that has been issued by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) since 1897. The original criteria were for the invention, improvement, or development of astronomical instrumentation or techniques; for achievement in observational astronomy; or for achievement in research into the history of astronomy. From 2017 onwards, the history of astronomy category has been removed and transferred to a new award, the Agnes Mary Clerke Medal.

Richard Ellis (astronomer) Welsh astronomer

Richard Salisbury Ellis is Professor of Astrophysics at the University College London. He previously served as the Steele Professor of Astronomy at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). He was awarded the 2011 Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society.

James Gunn (astronomer) American astronomer

James Edward Gunn is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University. Gunn's early theoretical work in astronomy has helped establish the current understanding of how galaxies form, and the properties of the space between galaxies. He also suggested important observational tests to confirm the presence of dark matter in galaxies, and predicted the existence of a Gunn–Peterson trough in the spectra of distant quasars.

Joseph Silk American politician

Joseph Ivor Silk FRS is a British-American astrophysicist. He was the Savilian Chair of Astronomy at the University of Oxford from 1999 to September 2011.

Mark Pettini English cricketer

Mark Lewis Pettini is an English cricketer who has played domestically for Essex and from 2016 for Leicestershire. He is a right-handed batsman and very occasional wicket-keeper and right-arm medium-pace bowler.

George Richard Isaak was a Polish Australian physicist, an important figure in the development of helio- and asteroseismology.

Roger Blandford British theoretical astrophysicist

Roger David Blandford, FRS, FRAS is a British theoretical astrophysicist, best known for his work on black holes.

Reinhard Genzel German astrophysicist

Reinhard Genzel is a German astrophysicist, co-director of the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, a professor at LMU and an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley. He was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy", which he shared with Andrea Ghez and Roger Penrose. In a 2021 interview given to Federal University of Pará in Brazil, Genzel recalls his journey as a physicist; the influence of his father, Ludwig Genzel; his experiences working with Charles H. Townes; and more.

Simon White British astronomer

Simon David Manton White, FRS, is a British astrophysicist. He was one of directors at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics before his retirement in late 2019.

Kenneth Alwyne Pounds, CBE, FRS is Emeritus Professor of physics at the University of Leicester.

Charles C. Steidel is an American astronomer, and Lee A. DuBridge Professor of Astronomy at California Institute of Technology.

Steven Balbus

Steven Andrew Balbus FRS is an American-born astrophysicist who is the Savilian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Oxford and a professorial fellow at New College, Oxford. In 2013, he shared the Shaw Prize for Astronomy with John F. Hawley.

Richard Edwin Hills

Richard Edwin Hills is emeritus professor of Radio Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.

Kurt Ludwig Adelberger is an American astrophysicist and sustainability manager, who formerly worked at Google as a principal in energy and sustainability and was previously the Engagement Manager for McKinsey & Company.

Sara Ellison is an Astronomy Professor at University of Victoria. Her work involves observational extragalactic astronomy, galaxy mergers and evolution, galactic chemistry and active galactic nuclei.

Gopal Krishna is an Indian radio astronomer and a senior professor at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics. Known for his studies on Radio galaxies and quasars, Krishna is an elected fellow of all the three major Indian science academies viz. Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, India and Indian National Science Academy. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, the apex agency of the Government of India for scientific research, awarded him the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, one of the highest Indian science awards, for his contributions to physical sciences in 1993.

References

  1. 1 2 Pettini, Max at ISIHighlyCited.com
  2. 1 2 "Royal Society announces new Fellows". Royal Society. 24 May 2010. Retrieved 20 January 2011.