Kenneth Charles Freeman (born 27 August 1940) is an Australian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, g ...

and astrophysicist who is currently Duffield Professor of Astronomy in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the

Mount Stromlo Observatory Mount Stromlo Observatory located just outside Canberra, Australia, is part of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University (ANU). History The observatory was established in 1924 as The Commonwea ...

of the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies and ...

in Canberra. He was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1940, studied mathematics and physics at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, and graduated with first class honours in applied mathematics in 1962. He then went to Cambridge University for postgraduate work in theoretical astrophysics with

Leon Mestel Leon Mestel (5 August 1927 – 15 September 2017) was a British-Australian astronomer and astrophysicist and Emeritus Professor at the University of Sussex. His research interests were in the areas of star formation and structure, especially st ...

and

Donald Lynden-Bell Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS (5 April 1935 – 6 February 2018) was a British theoretical astrophysicist. He was the first to determine that galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centres, and that such black holes power quasars. ...

, and completed his doctorate in 1965. Following a postdoctoral appointment at the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

with

Gérard de Vaucouleurs Gérard Henri de Vaucouleurs (25 April 1918 – 7 October 1995) was a French astronomer. Life and career Born in Paris, he had an early interest in amateur astronomy and received his undergraduate degree in 1939 at the Sorbonne in that city. ...

, and a research fellowship at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, he returned to Australia in 1967 as a Queen Elizabeth Fellow at Mount Stromlo. Apart from a year in the

Kapteyn Institute The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is the department of astronomy of the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. The institute is named after its founder, Jacobus Cornelius Kapteyn, who lived from 1851 to 1922. Jacobus Kapteyn was appointed p ...

in Groningen in 1976 and some occasional absences overseas, he has been at Mount Stromlo ever since.Freeman, Kenneth Charles (1940 - )
''Bright Sparcs'' (

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

), 7 November 2005. His research interests are in the formation and dynamics of galaxies and

globular clusters A globular cluster is a spheroidal conglomeration of stars. Globular clusters are bound together by gravity, with a higher concentration of stars towards their centers. They can contain anywhere from tens of thousands to many millions of member ...

, and he is particularly interested in the problem of dark matter in galaxies: he was one of the first to point out that

spiral galaxies Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

. He regularly visits the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for th ...

as Distinguished Visiting Scientist. He is very active in supporting graduate students and has acted as primary supervisor for 60 PhD students and 12 postdocs. He currently supervises Stephanie Monty on globular cluster populations in the Milky Way. Five of his students have won

Hubble Fellowships The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for the ...

. He is active in international astronomy, as a division past-president of the International Astronomical Union, and serves on visiting committees for several major astronomical institutions around the world. He has been an invited speaker at 154 international conferences since 1969. He has co-authored a book on

dark matter Dark matter is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 85% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it does not appear to interact with the electromagnetic field, which means it does not ab ...

Appointments and honours

*1972

Pawsey Medal The Pawsey Medal is awarded annually by the Australian Academy of Science to recognize outstanding research in the physics by an Australian scientist early in their career (up to 10 years post-PhD). This medal commemorates the work of the late Jo ...

of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

*1981

Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science The Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science is made up of about 500 Australian scientists. Scientists judged by their peers to have made an exceptional contribution to knowledge in their field may be elected to Fellowship of the Academy ...

*1990 Aaronson Lecturer at the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

*1993 Distinguished Achievement Award, University of California Institutes *1994 Oort Professor at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

*1997 Visiting fellow at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is one of the Colleges of Oxford University, constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the ...

*1998 Elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

of London *1999

Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics The Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics is jointly awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society and American Institute of Physics for outstanding work in astrophysics. It is funded by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Heinem ...

of the

American Institute of Physics The American Institute of Physics (AIP) promotes science and the profession of physics, publishes physics journals, and produces publications for scientific and engineering societies. The AIP is made up of various member societies. Its corpora ...

and 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 ...

*2001 Tinsley Professor at the

*2001 Bishop Lecturer at

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

*2001 Named by ISI as one of Australia's 35 most highly cited scientists (ranked number 5) *2001 Gave the Robert Ellery Lecture for the

Astronomical Society of Australia The Astronomical Society of Australia (ASA) is the professional body representing astronomers in Australia. Established in 1966, it is incorporated in the Australian Capital Territory. Membership of the ASA is open to people "capable of contributi ...

*2002 Associate of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

in 2002 *2003 Blaauw professor at the

University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, public research university of more than 30,000 students in the city of Groningen (city), Groningen in ...

*2003

Centenary Medal The Centenary Medal is an award which was created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the centenary of the Federation of Australia and to recognise "people who made a contribution to Australian society or go ...

from the Australian Government *2004 Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Lecture and Medal at the University of Texas * 2008 Johann Wempe Award, Astrophysical Institute Potsdam *2012

Prime Minister's Prize for Science The Prime Minister's Prizes for Science are annual Australian awards for outstanding achievements in scientific research, innovation, and teaching. The prizes have been awarded since 2000, when they replaced the Australia Prize for science. Th ...

*2013

Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture The Matthew Flinders Medal and Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science is awarded biennially to recognise exceptional research by Australian scientists in the physical sciences. Nominations can only be made by Academy Fellows. Recipients Sourc ...

(

) *2013

Henry Norris Russell Lectureship The Henry Norris Russell Lectureship is awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of a lifetime of excellence in astronomical research. The idea for the lectureship came from then society President Harlow Shapley in 1945, ...

(

) *2014

Gruber Prize in Cosmology The Gruber Prize in Cosmology, established in 2000, is one of three prestigious international awards worth US$500,000 made by the Gruber Foundation, a non-profit organization based at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Since 2001, the G ...

(jointly with

Jaan Einasto Jaan Einasto (born 23 February 1929) is an Estonian astrophysicist and one of the discoverers of the large-scale structure of the Universe. Born Jaan Eisenschmidt in Tartu, the name "Einasto" is an anagram of "Estonia" (it was chosen by his p ...

, Brent Tully and

Sidney van den Bergh Sidney Van den Bergh, OC, FRS (born 20 May 1929 in Wassenaar) is a retired Dutch-Canadian astronomer. He showed an interest in science from an early age, learning to read with books on astronomy. In addition to being interested in astronomy. ...

) from the

Gruber Foundation The Gruber Foundation is a philanthropic foundation established by Peter and Patricia Gruber and is based at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Its mission is to honor and encourage excellence in the fields of cosmology, genetics, neurosc ...

*2014 Peter Baume Award of The Australian National University *2016

Dirac Medal The Dirac Medal is the name of four awards in the field of theoretical physics, computational chemistry, and mathematics, awarded by different organizations, named in honour of Professor Paul Dirac, one of the great theoretical physicists of the 20 ...

, University of New South Wales *2017 United States National Academy of Sciences, Foreign Associate *2017 Companion of the Order of Australia *2020 Elected a Legacy Fellow of the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Ken 1940 births Living people 20th-century Australian astronomers 21st-century Australian astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science University of Western Australia alumni Australian National University faculty Recipients of the Centenary Medal Winners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics Companions of the Order of Australia Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Astronomical Society