Yvonne Elsworth

Last updated

Yvonne Elsworth
Education University of Manchester (BSc, PhD)
Awards
Scientific career
Fields
Institutions University of Birmingham
Thesis A field-compensated multiplex spectrometer for the visible region  (1976)
Website www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/physics/people/staff-profile.aspx?ReferenceId=8416

Yvonne Elsworth FRS FInstP FRAS is an Irish physicist, Professor of Helioseismology and Poynting Professor of Physics in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Birmingham. [2] Elsworth was until 2015 also the Head of the Birmingham Solar Oscillations Network (BiSON), the longest running helioseismology network with data covering well over three solar cycles. [3]

Contents

Education

In 1970 Elsworth graduated with honours from the Victoria University of Manchester with a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics. In 1976 she was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree [4] [5] from the School of Physics at the Victoria University of Manchester. [2] [6] [7] [8] Her thesis work was entitled "A field-compensated multiplex spectrometer for the visible region" [4] and was concerned with the design and implementation of a novel form of field-widened Michelson interferometer designed to study faint, extended sources like those coming from optical emission from the thermosphere.

Research

In 1984 Elsworth was appointed to a faculty position at the University of Birmingham, where she focused on helioseismology, solar physics, solar variability, and latterly asteroseismology, stellar physics and stellar variability. [2] [9] [10] [11] She participated in and later led the Birmingham Solar Oscillation Network. Her research has been funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). [12]

Awards and honours

Elsworth was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015 for her work on helioseismology. [1] Her certificate of election reads:

Professor Elsworth's pioneering work in establishing and maintaining an important scientific investigation into the internal structure of the Sun using helioseismic data from the autonomous Birmingham network of observatories complemented by extant data from modes of intermediate degree has permitted an unprecedented investigation into the inner core of the Sun where the nuclear reactions are taking place. This has led to the conclusion that the deficiency of solar neutrinos detected on Earth was an issue of nuclear physics or particle physics, not of solar modelling; it also established that the very centre of the Sun rotates no more rapidly than the convective envelope, a matter of serious dynamical concern. Furthermore, Professor Elsworth has led her group to study solar-cycle-related variations in the Sun's convective envelope, providing important structural information to theorists investigating the solar dynamo. Her current extension to seismic studies of stars other than the Sun is already contributing to a transformation in our understanding of stellar evolution. [1]

In 2011 she was awarded the Payne-Gaposchkin Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics (IoP). [13] and in 2020 the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in Geophysics. [14]

Elsworth is also a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS). [15]

Related Research Articles

Helioseismology, a term coined by Douglas Gough, is the study of the structure and dynamics of the Sun through its oscillations. These are principally caused by sound waves that are continuously driven and damped by convection near the Sun's surface. It is similar to geoseismology, or asteroseismology, which are respectively the studies of the Earth or stars through their oscillations. While the Sun's oscillations were first detected in the early 1960s, it was only in the mid-1970s that it was realized that the oscillations propagated throughout the Sun and could allow scientists to study the Sun's deep interior. The modern field is separated into global helioseismology, which studies the Sun's resonant modes directly, and local helioseismology, which studies the propagation of the component waves near the Sun's surface.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Anon (2015). "Professor Yvonne Elsworth FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:
    "All text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." -- "Royal Society Terms, conditions and policies". Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. 1 2 3 Anon (2015). "Professor Yvonne Elsworth BSc, PhD, FRAS, FInstP Professor of Helioseismology Poynting Professor of Physics". University of Birmingham. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". astro.phys.au.dk. Archived from the original on 11 June 2007. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. 1 2 Elsworth, Yvonne P. (1976). A field-compensated multiplex spectrometer for the visible region (PhD thesis). University of Manchester. ProQuest   301333536.
  5. ↑ Elsworth, Y; James, J F; Sternberg, R S (1974). "A field compensated interference spectrometer for the visible region: the optical design". Journal of Physics E: Scientific Instruments. 7 (10): 813–816. Bibcode:1974JPhE....7..813E. doi:10.1088/0022-3735/7/10/011.
  6. ↑ Hopkinson, G. R.; Elsworth, Yvonne; James, J. F. (1974). "Dust in the head of Comet Kohoutek". Nature. 249 (5454): 233–234. Bibcode:1974Natur.249..233H. doi:10.1038/249233a0. S2CID   4156717.
  7. ↑ Hopkinson, G. R.; Elsworth, Yvonne; James, J. F. (1974). "Photometry of the zodiacal light in the near infrared". Nature. 251 (5477): 694. Bibcode:1974Natur.251Q.694H. doi:10.1038/251694a0. S2CID   4198740.
  8. ↑ Elsworth, Y; James, J F (1973). "An optical screw with a pitch of one wavelength". Journal of Physics E: Scientific Instruments. 6 (11): 1134–1136. Bibcode:1973JPhE....6.1134E. doi:10.1088/0022-3735/6/11/027.
  9. ↑ Yvonne Elsworth's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
  10. ↑ Chaplin, W. J.; Kjeldsen, H.; Christensen-Dalsgaard, J.; Basu, S.; Miglio, A.; Appourchaux, T.; Bedding, T. R.; Elsworth, Y.; Garcia, R. A.; Gilliland, R. L.; Girardi, L.; Houdek, G.; Karoff, C.; Kawaler, S. D.; Metcalfe, T. S.; Molenda-Zakowicz, J.; Monteiro, M. J. P. F. G.; Thompson, M. J.; Verner, G. A.; Ballot, J.; Bonanno, A.; Brandao, I. M.; Broomhall, A.- M.; Bruntt, H.; Campante, T. L.; Corsaro, E.; Creevey, O. L.; Dogan, G.; Esch, L.; Gai, N.; Gaulme, P.; Hale, S. J.; Handberg, R.; Hekker, S.; Huber, D.; Jimenez, A.; Mathur, S.; Mazumdar, A.; Mosser, B.; New, R.; Pinsonneault, M. H.; Pricopi, D.; Quirion, P.- O.; Regulo, C.; Salabert, D.; Serenelli, A. M.; Aguirre, V. S.; Sousa, S. G.; Stello, D.; Stevens, I. R.; Suran, M. D.; Uytterhoeven, K.; White, T. R.; Borucki, W. J.; Brown, T. M.; Jenkins, J. M.; Kinemuchi, K.; Van Cleve, J.; Klaus, T. C. (2011). "Ensemble Asteroseismology of Solar-Type Stars with the NASA Kepler Mission". Science. 332 (6026): 213–216. arXiv: 1109.4723 . Bibcode:2011Sci...332..213C. doi:10.1126/science.1201827. PMID   21474754. S2CID   33911883.
  11. ↑ Bedding, Timothy R.; Mosser, Benoit; Huber, Daniel; Montalbán, Josefina; Beck, Paul; Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jørgen; Elsworth, Yvonne P.; García, Rafael A.; Miglio, Andrea; Stello, Dennis; White, Timothy R.; De Ridder, Joris; Hekker, Saskia; Aerts, Conny; Barban, Caroline; Belkacem, Kevin; Broomhall, Anne-Marie; Brown, Timothy M.; Buzasi, Derek L.; Carrier, Fabien; Chaplin, William J.; Di Mauro, Maria Pia; Dupret, Marc-Antoine; Frandsen, Søren; Gilliland, Ronald L.; Goupil, Marie-Jo; Jenkins, Jon M.; Kallinger, Thomas; Kawaler, Steven; Kjeldsen, Hans; Mathur, Savita; Noels, Arlette; Aguirre, Victor Silva; Ventura, Paolo (2011). "Gravity modes as a way to distinguish between hydrogen- and helium-burning red giant stars". Nature. 471 (7340): 608–611. arXiv: 1103.5805 . Bibcode:2011Natur.471..608B. doi:10.1038/nature09935. PMID   21455175. S2CID   4338871.
  12. ↑ Anon (2015). "UK government grants awarded to Yvonne Elsworth". Swindon: Research Councils UK. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016.
  13. ↑ Anon (2011). "2011 Payne-Gaposchkin Medal and Prize". iop.org. Retrieved 18 July 2014.
  14. ↑ "Professor Yvonne Elsworth: 2020 Gold Medal in Geophysics" (PDF). RAS. Retrieved 25 August 2020.
  15. ↑ Anon (2015). "Yvonne Elsworth (FRAS) elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS)". ras.org.uk.
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