Linda Siobhan Sparke is a British astronomer known for her research on the structure and dynamics of

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

. She is a professor emerita of astronomy at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, and Explorers Program Scientist in the

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 ...

Astrophysics Division.

Education and career

Sparke was born in London, and read mathematics as an undergraduate 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 ...

. She completed a Ph.D. in astronomy in 1981 from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

; her dissertation was ''Swirling Gas Flows in Elliptical Galaxies''. After postdoctoral research at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

, the University of Cambridge, and the

Kapteyn Astronomical Institute The Kapteyn Astronomical Institute is the department of astronomy of the University of Groningen The University of Groningen (abbreviated as UG; nl, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, abbreviated as RUG) is a Public university#Continental Europe, pu ...

, she became a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She retired in 2010 to become a professor emeritus, served as a program manager at the

National Science Foundation The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...

for two years, and became research program manager in astrophysics at NASA and later Explorers Program Scientist at NASA.

Book

With John Gallagher III, Sparke is the author of the undergraduate textbook ''Galaxies in the Universe: an Introduction'' (Cambridge University Press, 2000; 2nd ed., 2006).

Recognition

Sparke was elected as a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

in 2002, after a nomination from the APS Division of Astrophysics. The fellowship citation noted her "studies of the structure and dynamics of galaxies, using orbital motions to probe both time-steady and time-varying gravitational potentials, and the distribution of dark matter". In 2020 she was named a Fellow 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 ...

(AAS), as one of 200 Legacy Fellows named to start the AAS Fellows program. Her book ''Galaxies in the Universe: an Introduction'' won the

Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award The Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award is awarded by the American Astronomical Society for astronomy writing for an academic audience, specifically textbooks at either the upper-division undergraduate level or the graduate level. Books suitable ...

of the

in 2008.

References

External links

Home page at the University of Wisconsin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sparke, Linda Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American astronomers 20th-century British astronomers Women astronomers Alumni of the University of Cambridge University of California, Berkeley alumni University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society 20th-century British women scientists Fellows of the American Astronomical Society