Professor Bryan Gaensler

© Kelley Knight / AAS

Email: bryan.gaensler@sydney.edu.au
WWW: http://sydney.edu.au/science/physics/~bmg/
Address: School of Physics A29, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Phone: +61 2 9351 6053, Fax: +61 2 9036 7843
(last seen in Leichhardt NSW, Australia;
click here for travel schedule)

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

My current research interests focus on Cosmic Magnetism. A remarkable discovery made by 20th century astronomers was that the Universe is magnetic. These cosmic magnetic fields play a vital role in controlling how stars and galaxies form and evolve. This naturally occurring magnetism also regulates solar activity, protects the Earth from harmful particles, and is vital for the navigation of birds and other species. However, despite the ubiquity of astrophysical magnets, we do not understand what creates them, or how they have maintained their strength over billions of years. And unfortunately, magnetic fields are invisible even to the largest telescopes. I am working to open the window to this "Magnetic Universe" by exploiting an effect called "Faraday rotation", in which light from a background object is subtly changed when it passes through a cloud of magnetised gas. I and my team are carrying out detailed measurements using radio telescopes in Australia and in the USA, with which we are measuring the Faraday rotation in the emission from thousands of distant galaxies. With these measurements, we can detect magnetic fields throughout the Universe! The observations that we are carrying out are resulting in three-dimensional maps of cosmic magnetism, which are revealing what these magnets look like and what role they have played in the evolving Universe.

I am 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. In particular, I am a Principal Investigator for the Polarisation Sky Survey of the Universe's Magnetism (POSSUM), which we are planning to conduct with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). POSSUM will yield a densely packed grid of millions of Faraday rotation measures over a substantial fraction of the sky, and will revolutionise our understanding of magnetic fields in the Milky Way, other galaxies and clusters, and in the intergalactic medium.

If you are a Sydney student interested in working in my research team, please feel free to email me.

I am the editor-in-chief for Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. If you have an exciting result on the Universe that you are planning to publish, please consider submitting it to PASA!

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 an associate professor of astronomy at Harvard University, before returning to Sydney in 2006.

Now follow the links...

• "POSSUM, FLASH and ASKAP" (highlights from the International Year of Astronomy)
• "Magnetism in the Universe" (a Brainsmatter podcast on my recent research)

• "New Neutron Star Discovered in the Frying Pan" (U. Sydney media release)
• Behind the Scenes of Contact: The Movie (a memorable moment during National Science Week 2009)
• Astronomical Writing (a panel discussion on the ABC Book Show; mp3 of discussion)
• "Galaxy reveals its dark heart"
• "Music & the Cosmos" (a special event for the ABC Science Show; mp3 of music & talks)
• "Around The World in 80 Telescopes" (webcast from Molonglo Observatory)
• In Conversation with Robyn Williams (interview on Radio National; mp3 of interview)
• "Tall Poppies Receive Recognition" (The Glebe news article)
• "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 Morning Interview with Margaret Throsby (interview on Classic FM; mp3 of interview)
• "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)
• "Life of Bryan" (profile in The Australian)
• 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)

• "The Magnetic Universe" (a popular article, published in Australasian Science)
• "Big Ideas and New Ways Forward" (Op-Ed for The Melbourne Review)
• "Reward Ideas, Not CVs" (Op-Ed in Australasian Science)
• "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)
• Murchison Widefield 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 been reading:

accesses since 29-Feb-1996.