Profile

Bryan Gaensler

Bryan Gaensler was born and raised in Sydney, and graduated from The University of Sydney in 1995 with First Class Honours in Physics. His final mark of 100%, the highest ever awarded in the Faculty of Science, saw him awarded the University Medal in Physics.

As part of his PhD research in radio astronomy, Bryan set out to understand why the remnants from exploding stars form particular patterns rather than just scatter off in random directions. He surprised the astronomical world by showing that these remnants all line up with the Galaxy's magnetic field like giant compasses.

For this and other work, Bryan received his doctorate from The University of Sydney in 1999. He then took up a prestigious Hubble Fellowship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston, where he became involved in X-ray studies of the Milky Way using the newly-launched Chandra X-ray Observatory. After three years at MIT, Bryan moved to the Smithsonian Institution as a Clay Fellow, and then spent several years teaching in the astronomy department at Harvard University. As an Associate Professor at Harvard, Bryan built the world's leading research group for studying neutron stars and supernova remnants, and also coordinated the astronomy major for undergraduate students.

Bryan was the 1999 Young Australian of the Year, gave the 2001 Australia Day Address to the nation, was a 2005 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow, and was the recipient of the 2006 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, awarded by the American Astronomical Society "for outstanding achievement in observational astronomical research". He has authored over 150 scientific papers, and has written dozens of popular articles on science and astronomy. In recognition of his achievements, Bryan was awarded a prestigious Federation Fellowship by the Australian Research Council, which in 2006 saw him return to The University of Sydney as Professor of Physics.

Bryan and his research group at Sydney are now focusing their work on the origin of magnetism in the Universe, and on the demography of neutron stars and black holes in our Milky Way. For the period 2007-2008, Bryan also held the position of International Project Scientist for the Square Kilometre Array, a next-generation radio telescope. In addition to his research, Bryan is an avid fan of rugby league, baseball and cricket. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Laura, and son, Finn.

You can learn more about Bryan and his research from his web page.