Lisa Jennifer Kewley (born 1974) is a Professor and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3-D (ASTRO 3-D) and ARC Laureate Fellow at 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 ...

College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Specialising in galaxy evolution, she won the

Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy The Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to a woman resident of North America, who is within five years of receipt of a PhD, for distinguished contributions to astronomy or for similar ...

in 2005 for her studies of oxygen in galaxies, and the

Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy The Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society to a young (less than age 36) astronomer for outstanding achievement in observational astronomical research. The prize is named after Newton Lacy Pi ...

in 2008. In 2014 she was elected a

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. ...

. In 2020 she received the

James Craig Watson Medal 400px, James Craig Watson Medal The James Craig Watson Medal was established by the bequest of James Craig Watson, an astronomer the University of Michigan between 1863 and 1879, and is awarded every 1-4 years by the U.S. National Academy of Scienc ...

. In 2021 she was elected as an international member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 2022 she became the first female director of the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian.

Life

Kewley was raised in South Australia. Her parents encouraged engagement with the sciences and she was influenced by a high school physics teacher, and participation at a school stargazing camp, to become interested in astronomy. After school, she enrolled in a Bachelor of Science at the

Adelaide University The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...

, graduating with a BSc (Hons) in astrophysics. She then moved to

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

to pursue a doctorate in astrophysics at the

, which was awarded in 2002. In 2001, she spent some time in the United States as a visiting scholar at

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

. During this time she co-authored a paper in ''

The Astrophysical Journal ''The Astrophysical Journal'', often abbreviated ''ApJ'' (pronounced "ap jay") in references and speech, is a peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ...

'', called "Theoretical Modeling of

Starburst Galaxies A starburst galaxy is one undergoing an exceptionally high rate of star formation, as compared to the long-term average rate of star formation in the galaxy or the star formation rate observed in most other galaxies. For example, the star formatio ...

", which as of 2016 was her most-cited publication. After completing her doctorate, Kewley moved to the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian in Boston on a CfA fellowship, working on the formation and

evolution of stars Stellar evolution is the process by which a star changes over the course of time. Depending on the mass of the star, its lifetime can range from a few million years for the most massive to trillions of years for the least massive, which is cons ...

. Her mentors there included American astrophysicist

Margaret Geller Margaret J. Geller (born December 8, 1947) is an American astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their ...

. Awarded a

Hubble postdoctoral fellowship 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 ...

in 2004, she then continued her work at the Institute for Astronomy at the

University of Hawai'i A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

in 2005. Kewley was part of a team that used re-analysis of a

Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble) is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope, but it is one of the largest and most versa ...

image to identify a distant galaxy 9.3 billion light years distant. She then worked with the

W. M. Keck Observatory The W. M. Keck Observatory is an astronomical observatory with two telescopes at an elevation of 4,145 meters (13,600 ft) near the summit of Mauna Kea in the U.S. state of Hawaii. Both telescopes have aperture primary mirrors, and when comp ...

Mauna Kea Mauna Kea ( or ; ; abbreviation for ''Mauna a Wākea''); is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Its peak is above sea level, making it the highest point in the state of Hawaii and second-highest peak of an island on Earth. The peak is ...

, analysing data on the oxygen content of this and other galaxies of different ages, contributing to the understanding of their evolution. For this research, in 2005 she received the

Annie Jump Cannon Annie Jump Cannon (; December 11, 1863 – April 13, 1941) was an American astronomer whose cataloging work was instrumental in the development of contemporary stellar classification. With Edward C. Pickering, she is credited with the creation of ...

Award in Astronomy. There was further recognition of her work in 2008, when Kewley won the

, awarded by 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 ...

. The award was for her research "that has shown how the properties of a galaxy depend on how long ago it was formed". Her work studied the variation in properties of old and new galaxies, including oxygen richness, star formation rate, and the characteristics of the galaxy's nucleus. In 2011, Kewley returned to Australia as a professor for the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the

. In 2014, Kewley was elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science. She was chosen to deliver the 2018 Harley Wood lecture, an annual event of the Astronomical Society of Australia, on the topic of oxygen and stars. She was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of New South Wales The Royal Society of New South Wales is a learned society based in Sydney, Australia. The Governor of New South Wales is the vice-regal patron of the Society. The Society was established as the Philosophical Society of Australasia on 27 June ...

in 2020. Kewley developed the proposal for, and is director of, the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in All Sky Astrophysics, based at Mount Stromlo. She married her husband Reuben in

in 2001, shortly before they moved to Boston. They have a son (born 2008) and a daughter (born 2011), both born when she was living and working in

Hawai'i Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

References

External links

Hawaii University page for Lisa Kewley

Australian National University page for Lisa Kewley
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kewley, Lisa Living people 21st-century Australian astronomers Australian National University alumni Women astronomers Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy Australian National University faculty University of Adelaide alumni Hubble Fellows 1974 births Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science 21st-century Australian women scientists Australian women academics Fellows of the Royal Society of New South Wales