Michael Rowan-Robinson

Last updated

Michael Rowan-Robinson

FRAS FInstP
Born
Geoffrey Michael Rowan-Robinson [1]

(1942-07-09)9 July 1942 [1]
England
Education Eshton Hall School [1]
Alma mater University of Cambridge (BA)
Royal Holloway, University of London (PhD) [2] [3]
Awards Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize (2008)
Scientific career
Institutions Imperial College London
Gresham College
Thesis On the structure and distribution of quasi-stellar radio-sources  (1969)
Doctoral advisor William McCrea [4]
Doctoral students Brian May [2] [5]
Website astro.ic.ac.uk/home/mrrobinson

(Geoffrey) Michael Rowan-Robinson FRAS FInstP (born 9 July 1942) [1] 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. [1] [6]

Contents

Education

Rowan-Robinson was educated at Eshton Hall School [1] and the University of Cambridge where he completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Natural Sciences as an undergraduate student of Pembroke College, Cambridge. He went on to complete a PhD on Quasars at Royal Holloway, University of London in 1969 supervised by William McCrea. [2] [4]

Research and career

Rowan-Robinson's research interests include the Spitzer Space Telescope SWIRE project, the European Large Area ISO Survey, the UK SCUBA Survey (see James Clerk Maxwell Telescope), the IRAS PSC Redshift Survey, the Herschel Space Observatory SPIRE instrument [7] and the Planck Surveyor HFI. [8]

Rowan-Robinson co-supervised Brian May's PhD in Astrophysics initially supervised by James Ring and Ken Reay. [2] [5] He retired as president of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2008.[ citation needed ]

In November 2021 he published an article on the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society regarding the search for Planet Nine using IRAS data. [9]

Publications

His publications [10] [11] and books include:

Awards and honours

Rowan-Robinson was awarded the 2008 Hoyle Medal by the Institute of Physics for his research in infrared and submillimetre astronomy, and observational cosmology. [17]

The asteroid 4599 Rowan, discovered in 1985 by Henri Debehogne at the European Southern Observatory, was renamed[ when? ] "Rowan" to honor Michael Rowan-Robinson. The credit notes that, even though Rowan-Robinson's contributions have been in extragalactic astronomy, he was able to use data from IRAS to set a limit on the number of undiscovered Jupiter-like planets beyond the orbit of Neptune. [18]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Galactic disc</span> Component of disc galaxies comprising gas and stars

A galactic disc is a component of disc galaxies, such as spiral galaxies, lenticular galaxies, and the Milky Way. Galactic discs consist of a stellar component and a gaseous component. The stellar population of galactic discs tend to exhibit very little random motion with most of its stars undergoing nearly circular orbits about the galactic center. Discs can be fairly thin because the disc material's motion lies predominantly on the plane of the disc. The Milky Way's disc, for example, is approximately 1 kly thick, but thickness can vary for discs in other galaxies.

Pi Serpentis, Latinized from π Serpentis, is a solitary white-hued star in the constellation Serpens, located in its head, Serpens Caput. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 18.22 mas as seen from Earth, it is located around 179 light years from the Sun. It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.82.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nu Andromedae</span> Binary star in the constellation Andromeda

Nu Andromedae is a binary star in the constellation Andromeda. The system has an apparent visual magnitude of 4.5, which is bright enough to be seen with the naked eye. It is approximately 620 light-years from Earth. Situated just over a degree to the west of this star is the Andromeda Galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">9 Aurigae</span> Multiple star system in the constellation Auriga

9 Aurigae is a star system in Auriga (constellation). It has an apparent magnitude of about 5, making it visible to the naked eye in many suburban skies. Parallax estimates made by the Hipparcos spacecraft put it at about 86 light-years from the solar system, although individual Gaia Data Release 3 parallaxes place all three components at 88 light years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gamma Ceti</span> Star system in the constellation Cetus

Gamma Ceti is a triple star system in the equatorial constellation of Cetus. It has a combined apparent visual magnitude of 3.47. Based upon parallax measurements, this star is located at a distance of about 80 light-years from the Sun.

HD 90089 is a star located in the northern circumpolar constellation Camelopardalis. With an apparent magnitude of 5.25, it is faintly visible to the naked eye under ideal conditions. This star is located relatively close at a distance of 75 light years, but is drifting away at a rate of almost 8 km/s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steady-state model</span> Model of the universe – alternative to the Big Bang model

In cosmology, the steady-state model or steady state theory is an alternative to the Big Bang theory of evolution of the universe. In the steady-state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter, thus adhering to the perfect cosmological principle, a principle that says that the observable universe is always the same at any time and any place.

26 Vulpeculae is a close binary star system in the northern constellation of Vulpecula, around 644 light years away from the Sun. It is a challenge to view with the naked eye, having an apparent visual magnitude of 6.40. The star is moving closer to the Earth with a heliocentric radial velocity of −63 km/s, and is expected to come within 225 light-years in around 2.6 million years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HD 61005</span> Star in the constellation Puppis

HD 61005, also known as HIP 36948, is a young star located in the southern constellation Puppis, the poop deck. It has an apparent magnitude of 8.22, making it readily visible in binoculars, but not to the naked eye. The object is located relatively close at a distance of 119 light years based on Gaia DR3 parallax measurements but is receding with a heliocentric radial velocity of 22.6 km/s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4103</span> Open cluster in the constellation Crux

NGC 4103 is an open cluster in the constellation Crux. It was discovered by James Dunlop in 1826. It is located approximately 5,000 light years away from Earth, in the Carina-Sagittarius arm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">II Lupi</span> Star in the constellation Lupus

II Lupi is a Mira variable and carbon star located in the constellation Lupus. It is the brightest carbon star in the southern hemisphere at 12 μm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 708</span> Galaxy in the constellation Andromeda

NGC 708 is an elliptical galaxy located 240 million light-years away in the constellation Andromeda and was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on September 21, 1786. It is classified as a cD galaxy and is the brightest member of Abell 262. NGC 708 is a weak FR I radio galaxy and is also classified as a type 2 Seyfert galaxy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NGC 4302</span> Galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices

NGC 4302 is an edge-on spiral galaxy located about 55 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices. It was discovered by astronomer William Herschel on April 8, 1784 and is a member of the Virgo Cluster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">DS Tucanae</span> Binary star system in the constellation of Tucana

DS Tucanae is a binary star system 144 light years away in the constellation of Tucana. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 8.5, and is a RS Canum Venaticorum variable. The system is notable for being young as a member of the 45 Myr old Tucana-Horologium moving group and for the primary star hosting the confirmed exoplanet DS Tucanae Ab, discovered by THYME, using TESS.

HD 113337 is the primary component of binary star system LDS 2662, about 118 light-years away from Earth. The primary main-sequence star belongs to the spectral class of F6. The star system is extremely young, and it is slightly enriched in heavy elements, with an abundance of such elements at about 115% that of the Sun.

HD 3443 is a binary system composed of medium-mass main sequence stars in the constellation of Cetus about 50 light years away.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "ROWAN-ROBINSON, Prof. (Geoffrey) Michael" . Who's Who . Vol. 1997 (online Oxford University Press  ed.). Oxford: A & C Black.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Michael Rowan-Robinson at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  3. ↑ "Professor Michael Rowan-Robinson". ic.ac.uk. Imperial College London. Archived from the original on 12 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 Rowan-Robinson, Geoffrey Michael (1969). On the structure and distribution of quasi-stellar radio-sources. ethos.bl.uk (PhD thesis). University of London. ISBN   9781339706757.
  5. 1 2 May, Brian Harold (2008). A survey of radial velocities in the zodiacal dust cloud. ethos.bl.uk (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. Bibcode:2008srvz.book.....M. doi:10.1007/978-0-387-77706-1. hdl: 10044/1/1333 . ISBN   9780387777054. OCLC   754716941. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  6. ↑ Rowan-Robinson, Michael (2017). "Michael Rowan-Robinson CV" (PDF). astro.ic.ac.uk. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Griffin, M. J.; Abergel, A.; Abreu, A.; Ade, P. A. R.; André, P.; Augueres, J.-L.; Babbedge, T.; Bae, Y.; Baillie, T.; Baluteau, J.-P.; Barlow, M. J.; Bendo, G.; Benielli, D.; Bock, J. J.; Bonhomme, P.; Brisbin, D.; Brockley-Blatt, C.; Caldwell, M.; Cara, C.; Castro-Rodriguez, N.; Cerulli, R.; Chanial, P.; Chen, S.; Clark, E.; Clements, D. L.; Clerc, L.; Coker, J.; Communal, D.; Conversi, L.; et al. (2010). "TheHerschel-SPIRE instrument and its in-flight performance". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 518: L3. arXiv: 1005.5123 . Bibcode:2010A&A...518L...3G. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201014519. ISSN   0004-6361. S2CID   1532002.
  8. ↑ Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Armitage-Caplan, C.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Atrio-Barandela, F.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartlett, J. G.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bobin, J.; Bock, J. J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bond, J. R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F. R.; Bridges, M.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R. C.; Calabrese, E.; et al. (2014). "Planck2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 571: A16. arXiv: 1303.5076 . Bibcode:2014A&A...571A..16P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201321591. ISSN   0004-6361. S2CID   118349591.
  9. ↑ Rowan-Robinson, Michael (2022). "A search for Planet 9 in the IRAS data". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Royal Astronomical Society. 510 (3): 3716–3726. arXiv: 2111.03831 . doi:10.1093/mnras/stab3212.
  10. ↑ Michael Rowan-Robinson publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  11. ↑ Hughes, David H.; Serjeant, Stephen; Dunlop, James; Rowan-Robinson, Michael; Blain, Andrew; Mann, Robert G.; Ivison, Rob; Peacock, John; Efstathiou, Andreas; Gear, Walter; Oliver, Seb; Lawrence, Andy; Longair, Malcolm; Goldschmidt, Pippa; Jenness, Tim (1998). "High-redshift star formation in the Hubble Deep Field revealed by a submillimetre-wavelength survey". Nature . 394 (6690): 241–247. arXiv: astro-ph/9806297 . Bibcode:1998Natur.394..241H. doi:10.1038/28328. ISSN   0028-0836. S2CID   4428890.
  12. ↑ Michael., Rowan-Robinson (1985). The cosmological distance ladder : distance and time in the universe. New York, NY: W.H. Freeman. ISBN   978-0716715863. OCLC   10505595.
  13. ↑ Michael., Rowan-Robinson (1990). Universe. London: Longman. ISBN   9780582044388. OCLC   20964749.
  14. ↑ Michael., Rowan-Robinson (1993). Ripples in the cosmos : a view behind the scenes of the new cosmology. Diane Pub Co. ISBN   9780788194610. OCLC   948365655.
  15. ↑ Michael., Rowan-Robinson (2001). The nine numbers of the cosmos. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN   9780192862167. OCLC   828523172.
  16. ↑ Michael., Rowan-Robinson (2004). Cosmology (4th ed.). Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN   9780198527473. OCLC   53156521.
  17. ↑ "Hoyle Medal and Prize". iop.org. Archived from the original on 4 July 2008. Retrieved 3 December 2007.
  18. ↑ "Citation for (4599)" . Retrieved 20 July 2006.[ dead link ]
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