Andrew Geoffrey Lyne (born 13 July 1942) is a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

. Lyne is

Langworthy Professor The Langworthy Professor is the holder of an endowed chair in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester, UK. History It was founded by a bequest of £10,000 for the purpose of endowing a professorship of experimental ...

of Physics in the

School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester The Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester is one of the largest and most active physics departments in the UK, taking around 250 new undergraduates and 50 postgraduates each year, and employing more than 80 members of ...

, as well as an ex-director of the

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory () in Cheshire, England, hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio astron ...

. Despite retiring in 2007 he remains an active researcher within the Jodrell Bank Pulsar Group. Lyne was educated at

The Portsmouth Grammar School The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is locat ...

, the Royal Naval School, Tal Handaq, Malta and at St. John's College at the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(natural sciences), continuing to the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

for a PhD in

Radio Astronomy Radio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The first detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was in 1933, when Karl Jansky at Bell Telephone Laboratories reported radiation coming f ...

. Lyne writes that he is "mostly interested in finding and understanding radio pulsars in all their various forms and with their various companions. Presently, I am most occupied with the development of new multibeam search systems at Jodrell and Parkes, in order to probe deeper into the Galaxy, particularly for millisecond

pulsar A pulsar (from ''pulsating radio source'') is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits beams of electromagnetic radiation out of its magnetic poles. This radiation can be observed only when a beam of emission is pointing toward Ea ...

s, young pulsars and any that might be in

binary Binary may refer to: Science and technology Mathematics * Binary number, a representation of numbers using only two digits (0 and 1) * Binary function, a function that takes two arguments * Binary operation, a mathematical operation that t ...

systems."

Claimed pulsar planet

In 1991, Andrew Lyne and Matthew Bailes reported that they had discovered a pulsar orbited by a planetary companion; this would have been the first planet detected around another star. However, after this was announced, the group went back and checked their work, and found that they had not properly removed the effects of the

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

's motion around the

Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

from their analysis, and, when the calculations were redone correctly, the pulse variations that led to their conclusions disappeared, and that there was in fact no planet around PSR 1829-10. When Lyne announced the retraction of his results at a meeting of the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

, he received thunderous applause from his scientific colleagues for having the intellectual integrity and the courage to admit this error publicly.

Double pulsar

In 2003, Lyne and his team discovered the first binary system found in which both components were pulsed

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...

s. Lyne's colleague Richard Manchester called the

PSR J0737-3039 PSR may refer to: Organizations * Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California, US * Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research * Physicians for Social Responsibility, US ;Political parties: * Revolutionary Socialist Party (Portugal) ( ...

system a "fantastic natural laboratory" for studying specialized effects of the

General Theory of Relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the differential geometry, geometric scientific theory, theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current descr ...

. Other recent work that Lyne has undertaken includes research on the globular cluster at 47 Tucanae, whose dense stellar population acts as a nursery for millisecond and binary pulsars.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyne, Andrew 1942 births Living people People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School Scientists from Portsmouth British physicists 21st-century British astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of the University of Manchester 20th-century British astronomers

Claimed pulsar planet

Double pulsar

See also

References