Meg Urry
| Meg Urry | |
|---|---|
 Meg Urry speaking at Fermilab. | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Institutions | Yale University |
| Alma mater |
Tufts University Johns Hopkins University |
| Doctoral advisor | Art Davidsen |
Claudia Megan "Meg" Urry is an American astrophysicist, who was from 2015–2016 the President of the American Astronomical Society, formerly on the Hubble space telescope faculty and was chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University 2007–2013.[1] She is notable not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including work on black holes and multiwavelength surveys but for her work addressing sexism and gender equity in astronomy, and science and academia more generally.
Early life and education
After growing up in Indiana and Massachusetts, Urry attended college at Tufts University, double-majoring in mathematics and physics,[2] and graduating in 1977.[3]
Urry earned an M.S. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1984)[3] in physics from Johns Hopkins, where her advisor was Art Davidsen.[2] For her dissertation, she studied blazars at Goddard Space Flight Center with Richard Mushotzky.[2] She then conducted a postdoctorate at M.I.T.'s Center for Space Research,[1] working with Claude Canizares.[2] Urry joined Yale's faculty in 2001, at that time as the only woman in the department,[1] and became Chair in 2007.[2]
Career
Urry has been active in addressing gender inequities in astronomy and science more generally, giving more than 60 talks on the topic.[3] With Laura Danly, Urry co-organized the first meeting of Women in Astronomy.[2]
Urry studies supermassive black holes, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and the relationship of normal galaxies to AGNs.
Awards and Honors
- 1976, 1977, N. Hobbs Knight Award for Physics from Tufts University
- 1976, Phi Beta Kappa
- 1990, Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy
- 1999, American Physical Society Fellow
- 2006, American Women in Science Fellow
- 2007, Connecticut Academy of Science & Engineering
- 2008, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2012, George Van Biesbroeck Prize
- 2016, National Academy of Sciences[4]
Further reading
- Meg Urry, "Girls and the Future of Science", Huffington Post, July 19, 2011.
References
- 1 2 3 Eileen Pollack, "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?", New York Times, Oct. 6, 2013.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Karen Masters, "She's an Astronomer: Meg Urry", Galaxy Zoo (May 2, 2010)
- 1 2 3 "Meg Urry" (faculty profile), Yale University
- ↑ "National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected". Retrieved 2016-05-05.
External links
- "Meg Urry" (faculty profile), Yale University