Ray Jayawardhana is the Harold Tanner Dean of the

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

College of Arts and Sciences A College of Arts and Sciences or School of Arts and Sciences is most commonly an individual institution or a unit within a university that focuses on instruction of the liberal arts and pure sciences, although they frequently include programs and ...

and a Professor of Astronomy at

, effective September 1, 2018. He was formerly Dean of Science and a Professor of physics & astronomy at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

. Prior to that, he was a Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

, and an Assistant Professor of Astronomy at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

. An award-winning science writer, his primary research areas include the formation and early evolution of stars, brown dwarfs and planets. . His current research focuses on characterizing

exoplanet An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

s using telescopes on the ground and in space. As a graduate student at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, he led one of the two teams that discovered a dusty disk around the young star

HR 4796 HR 4796 is a binary star, binary star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus (constellation), Centaurus. Parallax measurements put it at a distance of from the Earth. The two components of this system have an angular separatio ...

A with a large inner hole, possibly carved out by planet formation processes. His group has played a key role in establishing that young brown dwarfs undergo a

T Tauri T Tauri is a variable star in the constellation Taurus, the prototype of the T Tauri stars. It was discovered in October 1852 by John Russell Hind. T Tauri appears from Earth amongst the Hyades cluster, not far from ε Tauri, but it i ...

phase, similar to young Sun-like stars, with evidence for dusty disks and signatures of disk accretion and outflow. Disks have now also been found around sub-brown dwarfs or

planemo A planetary-mass object (PMO), planemo, or planetary body is by geophysical definition of celestial objects any celestial object massive enough to achieve hydrostatic equilibrium (to be rounded under its own gravity), but not enough to sustain ...

s. In September 2008, he and his collaborators reported the first direct image and spectroscopy of a likely extra-solar planet around a normal star. Jayawardhana is the author of ''Neutrino Hunters: The Thrilling Chase for a Ghostly Particle to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe'' (

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

Farrar, Straus and Giroux Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG) is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger Williams Straus Jr. and John C. Farrar. FSG is known for publishing literary books, and its authors have won numerous awards, including Pulitzer ...

, 2013), ''Strange New Worlds: The Search for Alien Planets and Life beyond our Solar System'' (Princeton and HarperCollins, 2011) and ''Star Factories: The Birth of Stars and Planets'' (Steck Vaughn, 2001). His popular articles have appeared in many publications, including ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'', ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organisation publishe ...

'', ''

Sky and Telescope ''Sky & Telescope'' (''S&T'') is a monthly American magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including the following: *current events in astronomy and space exploration; *events in the amateur astronomy community; *reviews of astronomi ...

'', ''Muse'' and ''Science''. He is also known for organizing innovative science outreach programs such as the CoolCosmos astronomy poster campaign on the

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and largest ...

Background

Jayawardhana was born and raised in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. He was educated at the St. John's College, Nugegoda and

Royal College Colombo Royal College, Colombo is a selective entry boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started as a private school by Rev Joseph Marsh in 1835, it was established as the Colombo Academy by Sir Robert Wilmot-Horton in Janua ...

and pursued his higher education in the United States. He received his BS degree from

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

in 1994 and his PhD from

in 2000. He was a Miller Research Fellow at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...

for two years and an assistant professor at the

for two years, before moving to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. While serving as senior advisor on science engagement to the president of the

, he founded the Science Leadership Program to enhance the communications and leadership skills of academic scientists. In early 2014, Ray Jayawardhana was appointed Dean of the Faculty of Science at

. In June 2018, he was named

's 22nd Dean of

Awards

Jayawardhana was named Canada Research Chair in Observational Astrophysics in 2008. He held a E.W.R. Steacie Memorial Fellowship, "awarded to enhance the career development of outstanding and highly promising university faculty who are earning a strong international reputation for original research", from the

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC; french: Conseil de recherches en sciences naturelles et en génie du Canada, CRSNG) is the major federal agency responsible for funding natural sciences and engineering rese ...

of Canada, presented by Prime Minister

Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...

at a ceremony in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

on March 16, 2009. He has also been named to Canada's Top 40 Under 40. Main-belt

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

4668 Rayjay is named after him. * Carl Sagan Medal (2020)

References

External links

Personal home page

Profile at science.ca

Big Ideas lecture on "Alien Planets"

Kruger Cowne, agents, profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jayawardhana, Ray Living people American astrophysicists Canadian astrophysicists Harvard University alumni Yale University alumni Alumni of Royal College, Colombo University of California, Berkeley fellows University of Michigan faculty University of Toronto faculty Canada Research Chairs Canadian science writers Year of birth missing (living people)