British astrophysicist (born 1973)
Matthew Graham George Thaddeus Taylor (born 1973) is a British astrophysicist employed by the European Space Agency . He is best known to the public for his involvement in the landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko by the Rosetta mission (European Space Agency)'s Philae lander , which was the first spacecraft to land on a comet nucleus . He is Project Scientist of the Rosetta mission.[ 1] [ 2]
Early life
Taylor was born in Manor Park , London[ 3] in 1973.[ 1] He is the son of a bricklayer and worked alongside his father, on building sites, during his summer breaks from university.[ 4]
Education
Taylor received a degree in physics from the University of Liverpool .
Taylor earned a PhD[ 5] in space physics which focused on Magnetohydrodynamics modelling of astrophysical plasma in the magnetosphere from Imperial College London .[ 4] [ 6]
Career
Taylor's research career began when he became a research fellow at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory working on the Cluster mission.[ 7] This position led to his appointment as Cluster project scientist in 2005.[ 6] [ 8] He is an author on 70 publications, primarily on the topic of aurorae .[ 6] In summer 2013, Taylor became a Project Scientist for the Rosetta mission.[ 2] [ 4] Taylor's research has been published in leading peer reviewed scientific journals including Nature ,[ 9] the Journal of Geophysical Research ,[ 10] Geophysical Research Letters [ 11] and the Annales Geophysicae .[ 12]
Personal life
Taylor's wife is Leanne. They have two children.[ 1] [ 4]
Taylor is a devoted fan of heavy metal , especially death metal . He has posed with David Vincent of Morbid Angel for the magazine Metal Hammer , as well as having been photographed wearing Cannibal Corpse shirts multiple times.[ 13] He wrote the foreword to David Vincent's biography I Am Morbid: Ten Lessons Learned From Extreme Metal, Outlaw Country, And The Power Of Self-Determination .[ 14]
Taylor has a tattoo of the Rosetta spacecraft and its lander Philae on his leg,[ 15] which he had tattooed after the spacecraft was successfully awoken from hibernation in 2014.[ 4]
References
^ a b c Curtis, Nick (13 November 2014). "Rosetta rock star: Dr Matt Taylor on touching down on comet after a 10-year ride through space" . London Evening Standard . Retrieved 15 November 2014 .
^ a b Matt Taylor's publications indexed by the Scopus bibliographic database. (subscription required)
^ Walker, Peter (14 November 2014). "Comet genius Matt Taylor is a typical absent-minded scientist, says sister" . The Guardian . Retrieved 15 November 2014 .
^ a b c d e Clark, Stuart (2 November 2014). "Rosetta spacecraft scientist Matt Taylor prepares for celestial rendezvous" . The Guardian . Retrieved 10 January 2015 .
^ Taylor, Matthew Graham George Thaddeus (2001). MHD modelling of space plasmas (PhD thesis). Imperial College London. OCLC 53561590 .
^ a b c "Matt Taylor" . NASA . Archived from the original on 6 September 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2014 .
^ "PhD Successes" . SPAT News . Imperial College London. March 2001. Retrieved 13 November 2014 .
^ "Cluster hears the heartbeat of magnetic reconnection" . Space Daily . 3 May 2013. Retrieved 13 November 2014 .
^ Marklund, G. T.; Ivchenko, N.; Karlsson, T.; Fazakerley, A.; Dunlop, M.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Buchert, S.; Owen, C.; Taylor, M.; Vaivalds, A.; Carter, P.; André, M.; Balogh, A. (2001). "Temporal evolution of the electric field accelerating electrons away from the auroral ionosphere". Nature . 414 (6865): 724–727. Bibcode :2001Natur.414..724M . doi :10.1038/414724a . ISSN 0028-0836 . PMID 11742392 . S2CID 4418541 .
^ Pedersen, A.; Lybekk, B.; André, M.; Eriksson, A.; Masson, A.; Mozer, F. S.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Décréau, P. M. E.; Dandouras, I.; Sauvaud, J.-A.; Fazakerley, A.; Taylor, M.; Paschmann, G.; Svenes, K. R.; Torkar, K.; Whipple, E. (2008). "Electron density estimations derived from spacecraft potential measurements on Cluster in tenuous plasma regions" (PDF) . Journal of Geophysical Research . 113 (A7): n/a. Bibcode :2008JGRA..113.7S33P . doi :10.1029/2007JA012636 . ISSN 0148-0227 .
^ Lavraud, B. (2002). "Cluster observations of the exterior cusp and its surrounding boundaries under northward IMF". Geophysical Research Letters . 29 (20): 56–1–56–4. Bibcode :2002GeoRL..29.1995L . doi :10.1029/2002GL015464 . ISSN 0094-8276 . S2CID 131597692 .
^ Owen, C. J.; Fazakerley, A. N.; Carter, P. J.; Coates, A. J.; Krauklis, I. C.; Szita, S.; Taylor, M. G. G. T.; Travnicek, P.; Watson, G.; Wilson, R. J.; Balogh, A.; Dunlop, M. W. (2001). "Cluster PEACE observations of electrons during magnetospheric flux transfer events" . Annales Geophysicae . 19 (10/12): 1509–1522. Bibcode :2001AnGeo..19.1509O . doi :10.5194/angeo-19-1509-2001 . ISSN 1432-0576 .
^ "Dr Matt Taylor stops by tonight's Metal Hammer radio show" . Metal Hammer. 19 December 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2015 .
^ "David Vincent and Joel McIver Talk 'I Am Morbid' Biography" . decibelmagazine.com . 20 February 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2021 .
^ "Rosetta scientist Matt Taylor tattooed landing on thigh" . BBC. 12 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014 .
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