English astrophysicist
Belinda Jane Wilkes is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge , Massachusetts, US, and former director of the Chandra X-ray Center.[ 1]
Education and career
She was born in Staffordshire, England and grew up in Albrighton, Shropshire, attending Wolverhampton Girls' High School before obtaining a BSc.(Hons) in Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews , Scotland followed by a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Cambridge , England. In 1982 she moved to the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory as a NATO postdoctoral fellow and in 1984 to SAO's High Energy Astrophysics Division, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian .
Research
Her research relates to multi-wavelength studies of quasars : galaxies containing super-massive black holes at their centers and the most luminous sources in the Universe.[ 2] [ 3] [ 4] [ 5] [ 6] [ 7] [ 8]
She is the author of over 165 papers in refereed science journals and has served on a wide range of professional committees as well as various user and advisory committees and review boards for space and ground-based telescopes. She is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Cambridge Philosophical Society , and a member of the International Astronomical Union.
Recognition
In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge , her Alma Mater. In 2020 she was named a fellow of the American Physical Society "for significant contributions to the understanding of active galactic nuclei, including their emission mechanisms and evolutionary pathways, and for innovative leadership of the Chandra X-ray Observatory ".[ 9] In 2021 she was named a fellow of the American Astronomical Society "For dedicated leadership of the astronomical community as director of the Chandra X-ray Center", and was named to the 2021 class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science .[ 10] She was awarded the Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize for Leadership in Physics for her leadership of the Chandra X-Ray Centre by the Institute of Physics in 2023.[ 11]
See also
References
^ "Dr. Belinda Wilkes Chosen to Lead the Chandra X-ray Center" . Chandra.si.edu . Retrieved 30 June 2014 .
^ Revealing the Universe: The Making of the Chandra X-ray Observatory By Wallace H. Tucker, Karen Tucker
^ Reviews in Modern Astronomy, The Cosmic Circuit of Matter edited by Reinhard E. Schielicke
^ Exploring the X-ray Universe By Frederick D. Seward
^ NOAO Newsletter, Issues 69-72 The Observatories, 2002
^ NOAO-NSO Newsletter, Issues 41-44 The Observatories, 1995
^ National Optical Astronomy Observatories Newsletter, Issues 65-72
^ BL Lac objects: proceedings of a workshop held in Como, Italy, September 20-23, 1988
^ APS Fellow Archive , retrieved 6 November 2020
^ 2021 Fellows , American Association for the Advancement of Science, retrieved 30 January 2022
^ Bristol, University of. "October: IoP Award Winners | News and features | University of Bristol" . www.bristol.ac.uk . Retrieved 1 January 2024 .
External links
International National Academics Other