Stephen Erik Thorsett (born December 3, 1964) is an American academic and

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

serving as the president of

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

. His research interests include radio pulsars and

gamma ray bursts In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

. He is known for measurements of the masses of

neutron star A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. w ...

s and for the use of binary pulsars to test the theory of

general relativity General relativity, also known as the general theory of relativity and Einstein's theory of gravity, is the geometric theory of gravitation published by Albert Einstein in 1915 and is the current description of gravitation in modern physics ...

. Thorsett was a professor and dean at the

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge of ...

, before becoming president of

in July 2011.

Early life and education

Thorsett and his twin brother, David Thorsett, were born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, to Grant Thorsett and his wife, Karen. Stephen grew up in Salem, Oregon, where his father was a biology professor at Willamette University. After attending elementary school and junior high in Salem, he graduated from

South Salem High School South Salem High School is a public high school in Salem, Oregon. It was built in 1954 as the second public high school in the city. After South Salem opened, the former Salem High School was renamed North Salem High School. History South Salem ...

in 1983. During his youth, he earned money picking berries and with several jobs at Willamette. Following high school, he attended Carleton College in

Northfield, Minnesota Northfield is a city in Dakota and Rice counties in the State of Minnesota. It is mostly in Rice County, with a small portion in Dakota County. The population was 20,790 at the 2020 census. History Northfield was platted in 1856 by John W ...

, where he received a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

degree in mathematics in 1987, graduating '' summa cum laude''. Thorsett then pursued graduate studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and one of the ...

, where he received a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

in 1991 after completing a doctoral dissertation, titled "Observing millisecond and

binary pulsar A binary pulsar is a pulsar with a binary companion, often a white dwarf or neutron star. (In at least one case, the double pulsar PSR J0737-3039, the companion neutron star is another pulsar as well.) Binary pulsars are one of the few objects ...

s", under the supervision of Dan Stinebring and Joseph Taylor. With graduate school classmates Nathan Newbury, Michael J. Newman, John Ruhl, and Suzanne Staggs he is the author of the textbook ''Princeton Problems in Physics'' while at Princeton in 1991.Nathan Newbury, John Ruhl, Suzanne Staggs, Stephen Thorsett, and Michael Newman. (1991). ''Princeton Problems in Physics with Solutions'', Princeton University Press.

Career

After graduation from Princeton, he was a

Robert A. Millikan Robert Andrews Millikan (March 22, 1868 – December 19, 1953) was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the Elementary charge, elementary electric charge and for his work on ...

Research Fellow in physics at

Caltech 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 ...

and an assistant professor of physics at Princeton. He received the Ernest F. Fullam Award of the

Dudley Observatory Dudley Observatory is an astronomical observatory originally located in Albany, New York, and now in Loudonville, New York. It is no longer operating as a scientific observatory, but remains the oldest non-academic institution of astronomical r ...

in 1994, and was named an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow in 1997. In 1999, he was hired at the

as a professor of astronomy and astrophysics. Thorsett was named dean of the school's Division of Physical and Biological Sciences on July 1, 2006. In 2004, with collaborators Ingrid Stairs and Zaven Arzoumanian, he made the first measurement of gravitational spin-orbit coupling in a binary system. He helped discover the oldest known extrasolar planet and was the first to suggest that a nearby gamma ray burst might cause a mass extinction event. He is a co-editor of three volumes for the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.''Extreme Solar Systems'' (vol. 398, 2008), . He is also a collaborator on the upcoming

Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array NuSTAR (Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array, also named Explorer 93 and SMEX-11) is a NASA space-based X-ray telescope that uses a conical approximation to a Wolter telescope to focus high energy X-rays from astrophysical sources, especially ...

x-ray satellite experiment. On May 14, 2011, he was named as the 25th president of

in Salem, Oregon. He assumed the position on July 1, 2011, replacing M. Lee Pelton who had resigned to take the presidency at another college.

References

External links

Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorsett, Stephen 1964 births American astronomers Scientists from New Haven, Connecticut Living people Carleton College alumni Princeton University alumni Princeton University faculty Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford University of California, Santa Cruz faculty Presidents of Willamette University South Salem High School alumni