Christopher John Scott (né Davis) is a British scientist and professor of space and atmospheric physics at the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

. His research focuses on the boundary and links between the atmosphere and space. He is the former project scientist for the Heliospheric Imager instruments on

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

's twin

STEREO Stereophonic sound, or more commonly stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configuration ...

spacecraft.

Education and research career

Scott attended Brockenhust College, before completing a BSc in Physics with Planetary & Space Physics at

Aberystwyth University , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

in 1989. He was awarded a PhD in upper atmosphere and auroral physics at the

University of Southampton , mottoeng = The Heights Yield to Endeavour , type = Public research university , established = 1862 – Hartley Institution1902 – Hartley University College1913 – Southampton University Coll ...

in 1993. After his PhD, he moved to the

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atlas ...

, initially to support the

EISCAT EISCAT (European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association) operates three incoherent scatter radar systems in Northern Scandinavia and Svalbard. The facilities are used to study the interaction between the Sun and the Earth as revealed by dist ...

ionospheric radar, before taking up a number of research posts, including project scientist for the Heliospheric Imagers on the twin

spacecraft. At the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Scott worked closely with Richard Harrison and Mike Lockwood. In 2010, Scott moved to the

Research highlights

Scott's primary research focus is on the

ionosphere The ionosphere () is the ionized part of the upper atmosphere of Earth, from about to above sea level, a region that includes the thermosphere and parts of the mesosphere and exosphere. The ionosphere is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an ...

, particularly perturbations from below by atmospheric phenomenon. Scott was the first scientist to demonstrate

lightning Lightning is a naturally occurring electrostatic discharge during which two electric charge, electrically charged regions, both in the atmosphere or with one on the land, ground, temporarily neutralize themselves, causing the instantaneous ...

effects on the '

sporadic E Sporadic E (usually abbreviated E) is an unusual form of radio propagation using a low level of the Earth's ionosphere that normally does not refract radio waves. Sporadic E propagation reflects signals off relatively small "clouds" in ...

' layer; transient, localized patches of relatively high electron density in the mid-ionosphere, which significantly affect radio-wave propagation. He subsequently investigated the relation between

occurrence and magnetic structures in the

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the upper atmosphere of the Sun, called the corona. This plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy between . The composition of the sola ...

. Scott has also used novel datasets to study how pressure waves from the lower atmosphere can lead to disturbances in the ionosphere, most notably using records of the London

Blitz Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to: Military uses *Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign *The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War *, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bombing raids and ionospheric measurements from

Slough Slough () is a town and unparished area in the unitary authority of the same name in Berkshire, England, bordering west London. It lies in the Thames Valley, west of central London and north-east of Reading, at the intersection of the M4 ...

. Using the Heliospheric Imager instruments on the

spacecraft, Scott made the first observations of a solar eruption tracked continuously from the Sun to the Earth.

Public outreach and citizen science

Scott is actively involved in the public communication and promotion of science. He has made numerous appearances on TV and radio, most notably the BBC’s Sky at Night,

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

’s Today programme, BBC2's James May's Man Lab,

ITN news Independent Television News (ITN) is a UK-based television production company. It is made up of two divisions: Broadcast News and ITN Productions. ITN is based in London, with bureaux and offices in Beijing, Brussels, Jerusalem, Johannesburg, ...

, and the

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

. He was science adviser for episode 1 of the BBC series ‘Seven Wonders of the Solar System’ Scott is the co-founder of the

citizen science Citizen science (CS) (similar to community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, participatory monitoring, or volunteer monitoring) is scientific research conducted with participation from the public (who are sometimes re ...

Solar Stormwatch
project, to track solar eruptions in heliospheric imager data.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Christopher Living people British space scientists Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of the University of Southampton Year of birth missing (living people)