Duncan Lorimer
Duncan Lorimer | |
|---|---|
 Duncan Lorimer in 2023 | |
| Born | Duncan Ross Lorimer May 9, 1969[1] |
| Education | Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College[2] |
| Alma mater | University of Wales (BSc) University of Manchester (MSc, PhD) |
| Spouse | Maura McLaughlin |
| Awards | Shaw Prize (2023) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Pulsars |
| Institutions | West Virginia University Cornell University University of Manchester |
| Thesis | Galactic population of millisecond and normal pulsars (1996) |
| Doctoral advisor | Andrew Lyne Matthew Bailes |
| Website | physics |
Duncan Ross Lorimer FRS (born 1969) is a British-born American astrophysicist. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at West Virginia University, known for the discovery of the first fast radio burst in 2007.[3][4][5][6][7]
Education
[edit]Lorimer was educated at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and University of Wales College at Cardiff where he studied Astrophysics.[2] He received his MSc and PhD from the University of Manchester in 1991 and 1994, respectively, for research carried out at Jodrell Bank Observatory supervised by Andrew Lyne, Dick Manchester and Matthew Bailes.[1]
Career and research
[edit]Lorimer held appointments at University of Manchester (Lecturer, 1994–1995); the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (postdoctoral fellow, 1995–1998); Cornell University (postdoctoral Fellow, 1998–2001); University of Manchester (Royal Society University Research Fellow, 2001–2006) and West Virginia University (Faculty, 2006–present).
The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007 when Lorimer assigned his student David Narkevic at West Virginia University to look through archival data taken in 2001 by the Parkes radio dish in Australia.[8] Analysis of the survey data found a 30-jansky dispersed burst which occurred on July 24, 2001,[9] less than 5 milliseconds in duration, located 3° from the Small Magellanic Cloud. The burst became known as the Lorimer Burst or FRB 010724.[10]
Awards and honours
[edit]In 2023, he was awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy.[2][11] He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024.[12]
Personal life
[edit]Lorimer's wife Maura McLaughlin is also a professor at West Virginia University. They have three children.[13]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Lorimer, Duncan Ross (1996). Galactic population of millisecond and normal pulsars. manchester.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Manchester. OCLC 657642507.
- ^ a b c d "Duncan Lorimer autobiography". shawprize.org.
- ^ "A brief history: What we know so far about fast radio bursts across the universe". phys.org. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ "Burst of radio waves in Milky Way probably came from neutron star". The Guardian. November 4, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ "Let's ask the co-discoverer of the Fast Radio Burst, Duncan Lorimer". Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology. November 9, 2020. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Woo, Marcus. "There are weird bursts of energy coming from deep space". BBC. Retrieved May 5, 2021.
- ^ Duncan Lorimer publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ McKee, Maggie (September 27, 2007). "Extragalactic radio burst puzzles astronomers". New Scientist. Retrieved September 18, 2015.
- ^ D. R. Lorimer; M. Bailes; M. A. McLaughlin; D. J. Narkevic; et al. (September 27, 2007). "A Bright Millisecond Radio Burst of Extragalactic Origin". Science. 318 (5851): 777–780. arXiv:0709.4301. Bibcode:2007Sci...318..777L. doi:10.1126/science.1147532. hdl:1959.3/42649. PMID 17901298. S2CID 15321890. Retrieved June 23, 2010.
- ^ Chiao, May (2013). "No flash in the pan". Nature Physics. 9 (8): 454. Bibcode:2013NatPh...9..454C. doi:10.1038/nphys2724.
- ^ "Shaw Prize 2023". shawprize.org.
- ^ https://royalsociety.org/news/2024/05/new-fellows-2024/
- ^ "WVU Astrophysicist Making Waves, Discovering New Pulsars". The Neuron. Winter 2011. [failed verification]
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