Peter Dunsby (born 12 November 1966) is a full professor of gravitation and

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 ...

at the Department of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) ( af, Universiteit van Kaapstad, xh, Yunibesithi ya yaseKapa) is a public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university statu ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

. He was the co-director of the Astrophysics, Cosmology and Gravity Centre at the university until 2016. He also serves on the editorial board of the ''

International Journal of Modern Physics The ''International Journal of Modern Physics'' is a series of Physics journals published by World Scientific. ''International Journal of Modern Physics A'' The ''International Journal of Modern Physics A'' was established in 1986, and covers s ...

''. Dunsby has published extensively in the fields of

and gravitation, including higher-order theories of gravity and

f(R) gravity () is a type of modified gravity theory which generalizes Einstein's general relativity. () gravity is actually a family of theories, each one defined by a different function, , of the Ricci scalar, . The simplest case is just the function bei ...

, and was the founding Director of the South African National Astrophysics and Space Science Programme (NASSP). In 2006, Dunsby was awarded the silver medal by the Southern African Association for the Advancement of Science for his contributions to theoretical cosmology. The committee called out his research on

cosmic microwave background In Big Bang cosmology the cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR) is electromagnetic radiation that is a remnant from an early stage of the universe, also known as "relic radiation". The CMB is faint cosmic background radiation filling all spac ...

radiation and study of study of

Type Ia supernova A Type Ia supernova (read: "type one-A") is a type of supernova that occurs in binary systems (two stars orbiting one another) in which one of the stars is a white dwarf. The other star can be anything from a giant star to an even smaller white ...

which increased accuracy of calculation of the

Hubble parameter Hubble's law, also known as the Hubble–Lemaître law, is the observation in physical cosmology that galaxies are moving away from Earth at speeds proportional to their distance. In other words, the farther they are, the faster they are moving a ...

. In 2016 he was presented the award for Human Capacity Development by the

National Science and Technology Forum The National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF) is a non-profit company representing South African organisations in the public and private sector with an interest in science, engineering, technology, and innovation. Its aim is to promote science, ...

for his work developing postgraduate students and post doctoral researchers. In October 2017 Dunsby was elected to the College of Fellows of the University of Cape Town. Dunsby briefly received international attention following a 20 March 2018 report of a "very bright optical transient near the Trifid and Lagoon Nebulae" to the '' Astronomers Telegram'', an internet service for quickly disseminating information about astronomical events. Forty minutes later he posted again, saying that the object in question was "identified as Mars". Dunsby later described the incident to ''Newsweek'' as "an honest mistake arising from simply not checking what else was in my camera frame, during an automated astrophotography session and of very little consequence in the scheme of things, but agreed it was rather funny. The world needs to smile more, so that’s something good that has come out of this episode.” ''The Astronomer's Telegram'' editors presented Dunsby with a

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...

award as discoverer of Mars.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dunsby, Peter South African cosmologists University of Cape Town academics Living people 1966 births Place of birth missing (living people)