Professor Peter Quinn is Executive Director of the
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...
, Western Australia and was previously the Head of the Data Management and Operations Division at the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
.
Prof. Quinn has authored more than 300 published scientific papers
and was awarded the 'Western Australian Scientist of the Year' in 2012. Prof. Quinn is also a Fellow of
Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.
At ESO, Prof. Quinn was working towards the creation of th
Astrophysical Virtual Observatory a massive virtual
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases s ...
of astronomical data, designed to allow
astrophysicists to carry out research using existing data without using valuable
telescope
A telescope is a device used to observe distant objects by their emission, absorption, or reflection of electromagnetic radiation. Originally meaning only an optical instrument using lenses, curved mirrors, or a combination of both to observ ...
time.
Prior to working at ESO, Prof. Quinn taught astrophysics at the
California Institute of Technology
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
(Caltech) for several years, working alongside
Gerald Jay Sussman
Gerald Jay Sussman (born February 8, 1947) is the Panasonic Professor of Electrical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He received his S.B. and Ph.D. degrees in mathematics from MIT in 1968 and 1973 respectively. H ...
, and has worked at the NASA
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 the ...
(STScI) in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
. His scientific interests include the study of
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 a ...
, computational
cosmology
Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...
,
galactic formation, and
MACHOs.
References
Living people
1955 births
21st-century Australian astronomers
University of Wollongong alumni
Australian National University alumni
Academic staff of the University of Western Australia
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