Yanqin Wu (Chinese :武延庆) is a theoretical astrophysicist whose research concerns planet formation, protoplanetary disks, the effects of photoevaporation, orbital resonance, and planetary migration, and the classification and distribution of exoplanets. [1] [2] She has theorized that planetary collisions have culled initially-crowded systems until what remains is often on the edge of chaos, [3] and used oscillations in the rings of Saturn to study the past history of the Solar System. [4] Educated in China and the US, she has worked in England and Canada, where she is a professor in the Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics of the University of Toronto.
Wu is originally from Guangzhou. [2] She was an undergraduate at the University of Science and Technology of China, graduating in 1991. [5] She became a graduate student at the California Institute of Technology, and completed her Ph.D. there in 1997. Her dissertation, Excitation and Saturation of White Dwarf Pulsation, was supervised by Peter Goldreich. [5] [6]
After postdoctoral research at Queen Mary University of London from 1998 to 1999, and at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics in Toronto from 2000 to 2003, she became an assistant professor of astronomy at the University of Toronto in 2003. She was promoted to associate professor in 2008 and full professor in 2016. [5]
Wu is a Guggenheim Fellow, awarded in 2022. [2] She is the 2023 recipient of the CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics of the Canadian Association of Physicists and Centre de Recherches Mathématiques. [1]
A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young protostar orbited by a protoplanetary disk. Planets grow in this disk by the gradual accumulation of material driven by gravity, a process called accretion. The Solar System has at least eight planets: the terrestrial planets Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, and the giant planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
A ring system is a disc or ring, orbiting an astronomical object, that is composed of solid material such as dust and moonlets, and is a common component of satellite systems around giant planets like Saturn. A ring system around a planet is also known as a planetary ring system.
Planetesimals are solid objects thought to exist in protoplanetary disks and debris disks. Believed to have formed in the Solar System about 4.6 billion years ago, they aid study of its formation.
Brett James Gladman is a Canadian astronomer and a full professor at the University of British Columbia's Department of Physics and Astronomy in Vancouver, British Columbia. He holds the Canada Research Chair in planetary astronomy. He does both theoretical work and observational optical astronomy.
A protoplanetary disk is a rotating circumstellar disc of dense gas and dust surrounding a young newly formed star, a T Tauri star, or Herbig Ae/Be star. The protoplanetary disk may also be considered an accretion disk for the star itself, because gases or other material may be falling from the inner edge of the disk onto the surface of the star. This process should not be confused with the accretion process thought to build up the planets themselves. Externally illuminated photo-evaporating protoplanetary disks are called proplyds.
Skathi, also named Saturn XXVII and originally spelled Skadi, is a natural satellite of the planet Saturn. Skathi is one of Saturn's irregular moons, in its Norse group of satellites. It was discovered on September 23, 2000, by a team of astronomers led by Brett Gladman. The team announced their discovery on December 7, 2000, along with seven other satellites of Saturn, namely; Tarvos, Ijiraq, Thrymr, Siarnaq, Mundilfari, Erriapus, and Suttungr. The moon was named after Skaði, a figure in Norse mythology, as part of an effort to diversify the largely Greek and Roman names of astronomical objects.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to astronomy:
Jitendra Jatashankar Rawal is an Indian astrophysicist and scientific educator, recognized for his work in the popularisation of science.
Peter Goldreich is an American astrophysicist whose research focuses on celestial mechanics, planetary rings, helioseismology and neutron stars. He is the Lee DuBridge Professor of Astrophysics and Planetary Physics at California Institute of Technology. Since 2005 he has also been a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Asteroid 3805 Goldreich is named after him.
John Harnad is a Hungarian-born Canadian mathematical physicist. He did his undergraduate studies at McGill University and his doctorate at the University of Oxford under the supervision of John C. Taylor. His research is on integrable systems, gauge theory and random matrices.
Scott Duncan Tremaine is a Canadian-born astrophysicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences. Tremaine is widely regarded as one of the world's leading astrophysicists for his contributions to the theory of Solar System and galactic dynamics. Tremaine is the namesake of asteroid 3806 Tremaine. He is credited with coining the name "Kuiper belt".
Luc Vinet is a Canadian physicist and mathematician. He was former rector of the Université de Montréal between 2005 and 2010. He is the CEO of IVADO, created in 2015 since August 2021.
Planetary science is the scientific study of planets, celestial bodies and planetary systems and the processes of their formation. It studies objects ranging in size from micrometeoroids to gas giants, aiming to determine their composition, dynamics, formation, interrelations and history. It is a strongly interdisciplinary field, which originally grew from astronomy and Earth science, and now incorporates many disciplines, including planetary geology, cosmochemistry, atmospheric science, physics, oceanography, hydrology, theoretical planetary science, glaciology, and exoplanetology. Allied disciplines include space physics, when concerned with the effects of the Sun on the bodies of the Solar System, and astrobiology.
Douglas N. C. Lin is professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He was born in New York and grew up in Beijing. He earned his BSc from McGill University, his PhD from the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, and performed postdoctoral research at both Harvard and Cambridge. In 1979 he took an Assistant Professorship at UCSC, and has remained there since. He is also the founding director of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University.
The CAP-CRM Prize in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics is an annual prize awarded by the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) and Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM) to recognize research excellence in the fields of theoretical and mathematical physics. The award winner's research should have been performed in Canada or in affiliation with a Canadian organization.
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Toronto is an astronomical research centre.
Ravit Helled is a planetary scientist and a professor in the department of astrophysics and cosmology at the University of Zürich. She studies gas giant planets in the Solar System and exoplanets.
Diana Valencia is a Colombian planetary scientist and astrophysicist. She is an associate professor of Physics and Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Scarborough, and of Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto.
Pavel Winternitz (1936–2021) was a Canadian Czech-born mathematical physicist. He did his undergraduate studies at Prague University and his doctorate at Leningrad University under the supervision of J. A. Smorodinsky. His research is on integrable systems and symmetries.
James E. Owen is an astrophysicist at Imperial College London who studies exoplanets and accretion disks.