Bryan Gaensler

Email: bgaensler@usyd.edu.au
WWW: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~bmg/
Address: School of Physics A29, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 6053, Fax: +61 2 9036 7843
(click here for travel schedule)

G'day. I am an astronomer, working as an ARC Federation Fellow and Professor of Physics in the Institute of Astronomy within the School of Physics at The University of Sydney.

My research interests focus on multi-wavelength observations of magnetism, neutron stars, and interstellar gas. Together with Patrick Slane, I lead the GaS group, a global research effort shared between the The University of Sydney and the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. If you are a Sydney student interested in doing research in our group, please feel free to email me.

I am also an enthusiastic participant in the Square Kilometre Array, a radio telescope for the 21st century which will answer fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the Universe.

I did my postgraduate work at The University of Sydney and at CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility. I subsequently held postdoctoral fellowships at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, and then was a professor of astronomy at Harvard University, before returning to Sydney in 2006.

Now follow the links...

Results and News Reports on My Work

• "Detective astronomers unearth hidden celestial gem" (ESA media release)
• "Bok Prize for IoA Honours Student" (U. Sydney media release)
• "Your top idea, in 100 words or less" (Sydney Morning Herald news article)
• Australia 2020 Summit: Sydney academics make list" (U. Sydney media release)
• The Milky Way is twice the size we thought it was" (U. Sydney media release; mp3 of ABC Radio interview)
• "Pulsed heartbeat of a weird new type of star" (ESA media release)
• "Distant ball of dust not dusty enough" (UC Berkeley media release)
• "The case of the neutron star with a wayward wake" (NASA media release; Astronomy Picture of the Day)
• "Bryan Gaensler receives 2006 AAS Newton Lacy Pierce Prize" (CfA media release)
• "Neutron Stars Gone Wild" (Science magazine's #4 breakthough of 2005)
• Chandra Chronicles Spotlight
• "Hassled galaxy thriving on chaos" (CSIRO media release)
• "Dying star flares up, briefly outshining rest of Galaxy" (New York Times news article)
• "Biggest stars produce strongest magnets" (CfA media release)
• "Chasing, catching, an American dream" (Sydney Morning Herald news article)
• The Mouse that Soared" (NASA media release)
• "New Fellowship Scheme Reverses the Brain Drain" (Queensland Government media release)
• "A New Spiral Arm for Our Galaxy" (ATNF media release)
• "Cosmic Corpses in A Spin" (Sydney Morning Herald news article)
• "Northern Stars Return Home" (University of Sydney News article)
• "A Cocoon Found Inside the Black Widow's Web" (NASA media release)
• "Age Discrepancy Throws Pulsar Theories into Turmoil" (NRAO media release)
• "New Australia Telescope eyes look at exploded star" (CSIRO media release)
• "Chandra examines a quadrillion-volt pulsar" (NASA media release; Astronomy Picture of the Day)
• "Pulsars are lying about their ages" (NRAO media release)
• Sydney astronomer named 1999 Young Australian of the Year (CSIRO media release)
• "Sting-ray in the Sky Sparks New Theory" (CSIRO media release)
• "Exploded Stars are Cosmic Compasses" (CSIRO media release)

Popular Articles I Have Written

• "Dark Matter" (essay in response to Giles Ryder's exhibition Dark Matter)
• "Our Boomerangs Don't Come Back (Op-Ed in the Sydney Morning Herald)
• "Does Sydney Stack Up?" (article in the(sydney)magazine)
• "An Astronomer Gazes at Heavens" (essay in response to Asher Bilu's artwork Heavens)
• "Why Pluto Had To Go" (Op-Ed published in Cosmos magazine)
• "A Star Is Burst" (a popular article, published in Cosmos magazine)
• "Keeping the Faith in a World Less Certain" (Op-Ed in the Sydney Morning Herald)
• "Time for Scientists to Rock the Boat" (Op-Ed in Australasian Science)
• 2001 Australia Day Address
• "Reaching for the Stars" (autobiographical musings in the University of Sydney Gazette)
• "Of Dead Stars and Cosmic Lighthouses" (a popular article, published in Newton magazine)
• "Astronomy in Australia - Past and Future" (part of a symposium on Australia's Science Future)
• "When Big Stars Die" (a popular article, published in The Bulletin magazine)
• "Australian Science: Our Future" (an address to the National Press Club)
• "Exploding Stars and Smoke Rings" (a public lecture for the Museum of Victoria)

In science-speak...

• Publications
• Contact information
• Travel schedule
• One-page curriculum vitae (PDF format)
• My PhD thesis, in all its glory... (5.5 MB, pdf format) (on-line version available here)
• Observing projects
• GaS research group
• CfA/MIT Joint Seminar Series on Neutron Stars and Supernova Remnants
• Square Kilometre Array (SKA)
• GALFA Continuum Transit Survey (GALFACTS)
• Mileura Wide-Field Array (MWA)
• The Australia Telescope Large Area Survey (ATLAS)
• Workshop on Neutron Stars in Supernova Remnants, 14-17 Aug 2001, Boston MA
• "The Origin and Evolution of Cosmic Magnetism", 29 Aug - 2 Sep 2005, Bologna, Italy
• MOST Supernova Remnant Catalogue
• Molonglo Calibrator Database
• International Galactic Plane Survey (IGPS)
• New South Wales Expatriate Return Awards
• Australian Science Media Centre
• Cosmos magazine - the Science of Everything!

When I'm not working...

• What I'm listening to:
• Some books I've read lately.

accesses since 29-Feb-1996.