Belinda J. Wilkes
Wilkes in 2012
Born
Staffordshire, England
Alma materWolverhampton Girls' High School, University of St. Andrews, University of Cambridge
OccupationAstrophysicist

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

  1. ↑ "Dr. Belinda Wilkes Chosen to Lead the Chandra X-ray Center". Chandra.si.edu. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  2. ↑ Revealing the Universe: The Making of the Chandra X-ray Observatory By Wallace H. Tucker, Karen Tucker
  3. ↑ Reviews in Modern Astronomy, The Cosmic Circuit of Matter edited by Reinhard E. Schielicke
  4. ↑ Exploring the X-ray Universe By Frederick D. Seward
  5. ↑ NOAO Newsletter, Issues 69-72 The Observatories, 2002
  6. ↑ NOAO-NSO Newsletter, Issues 41-44 The Observatories, 1995
  7. ↑ National Optical Astronomy Observatories Newsletter, Issues 65-72
  8. ↑ BL Lac objects: proceedings of a workshop held in Como, Italy, September 20-23, 1988
  9. ↑ APS Fellow Archive, retrieved 6 November 2020
  10. ↑ 2021 Fellows, American Association for the Advancement of Science, retrieved 30 January 2022
  11. ↑ Bristol, University of. "October: IoP Award Winners | News and features | University of Bristol". www.bristol.ac.uk. Retrieved 1 January 2024.
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