Matthew Graham George Thaddeus Taylor (born 1973) is a British astrophysicist employed by the European Space Agency. He is best known to the public for his involvement in the landing on

Comet A comet is an icy, small Solar System body that, when passing close to the Sun, warms and begins to release gases, a process that is called outgassing. This produces a visible atmosphere or coma, and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena ...

67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (abbreviated as 67P or 67P/C–G) is a Jupiter-family comet, originally from the Kuiper belt, with a current orbital period of 6.45 years, a rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours and a maximum velocity of . Chu ...

by the ''

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...

'' mission (European Space Agency)'s ''Philae'' lander, which was the first spacecraft to land on a

comet nucleus The nucleus is the solid, central part of a comet, once termed a ''dirty snowball'' or an ''icy dirtball''. A cometary nucleus is composed of rock, dust, and frozen gases. When heated by the Sun, the gases sublime and produce an atmosphere ...

. He is Project Scientist of the ''Rosetta'' mission.

Early life

Taylor was born in Manor Park, London in 1973. He is the son of a bricklayer and worked alongside his father, on building sites, during his summer breaks from university.

Education

Taylor received a degree in physics from the

University of Liverpool , mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning , established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...

. Taylor earned a PhD in space physics which focused on

Magnetohydrodynamics Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is the study of the magnetic properties and behaviour of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals, ...

modelling of

astrophysical plasma Astrophysical plasma is plasma outside of the Solar System. It is studied as part of astrophysics and is commonly observed in space. The accepted view of scientists is that much of the baryonic matter in the universe exists in this state. When ...

in the magnetosphere from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

Career

Taylor's research career began when he became a research fellow at the

Mullard Space Science Laboratory The UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) is the United Kingdom's largest university space research group. MSSL is part of the Department of Space and Climate Physics at University College London (UCL), one of the first universities in the ...

working on the Cluster mission. This position led to his appointment as Cluster project scientist in 2005. He is an author on 70 publications, primarily on the topic of aurorae. In summer 2013, Taylor became a Project Scientist for the

mission. Taylor's research has been published in leading

peer review Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer revie ...

ed scientific journals including ''

Nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

'', the ''

Journal of Geophysical Research The ''Journal of Geophysical Research'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal. It is the flagship journal of the American Geophysical Union. It contains original research on the physical, chemical, and biological processes that contribute to the un ...

'', ''

Geophysical Research Letters ''Geophysical Research Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal of geoscience published by the American Geophysical Union that was established in 1974. The editor-in-chief is Harihar Rajaram. Aims and scope The journal aims for rap ...

'' and the ''

Annales Geophysicae ''Annales Geophysicae'' is an open-access peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing research within Earth science. Abstracting and indexing This journal is indexed in the following databases: According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', ...

''.

Personal life

Taylor's wife is Leanne. They have two children. Taylor is a devoted fan of heavy metal, especially death metal. He has posed with David Vincent of

Morbid Angel Morbid Angel is an American death metal band based in Tampa, Florida, formed in 1983 by guitarist, primary composer and sole remaining original member Trey Azagthoth, vocalist and bassist Dallas Ward, and drummer Mike Browning. Widely considered ...

for the magazine ''

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

'', as well as having been photographed wearing Cannibal Corpse shirts multiple times. He wrote the foreword to David Vincent's biography ''I Am Morbid: Ten Lessons Learned From Extreme Metal, Outlaw Country, And The Power Of Self-Determination''. Taylor has a tattoo of the Rosetta spacecraft and its lander

Philae ; ar, فيلة; cop, ⲡⲓⲗⲁⲕ , alternate_name = , image = File:File, Asuán, Egipto, 2022-04-01, DD 93.jpg , alt = , caption = The temple of Isis from Philae at its current location on Agilkia Island in Lake Nasse ...

on his leg, which he had tattooed after the spacecraft was successfully awoken from hibernation in 2014.

References

External links

Matt Taylor at ESA
*
Matt Taylor
at Jet Propulsion Laboratory {{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Matt 1973 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Liverpool British scientists European Space Agency personnel Rosetta mission