Bryan Gaensler

Gaensler was born in Sydney, Australia. He attended Sydney Grammar School, and studied at the University of Sydney, graduating with a BSc with first class honours in physics (1995), followed by a PhD in astrophysics (1999).{{Citation |url=https://sydney.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma991027176319705106&context=L&vid=61USYD_INST:sydney&lang=en&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=Everything&query=creator,contains,Gaensler,AND&mode=advanced&offset=0 |title=Barrels, jets and smoke-rings understanding the bizarre shapes of radio supernova remnants |access-date=17 May 2020 |work=PhD Thesis |date=1999 |author=Gaensler, Bryan M. |publisher=University of Sydney}} His PhD thesis was completed under the supervision of Anne Green and Richard Manchester.{{cite news|url=https://astrogen.aas.org/front/searchdetails.php?agnumber=2247|title=Anne Josephine Green|publisher=AstroGen|accessdate=12 June 2022}}

From 1998 to 2001, Gaensler held a Hubble Fellowship at the Center for Space Research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.{{Cite web |title= 2017 and Prior Fellows (Section: 1998) |url=https://www.stsci.edu/stsci-research/fellowships/nasa-hubble-fellowship-program/2017-and-prior-fellows#section-0cc24f81-48ab-4a87-8adc-bd1f0e3ef957 |publisher=Space Telescope Science Institute |date=5 June 2019 |access-date=17 May 2020}} In 2001 he moved to the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory as a Clay Fellow.{{Cite web |title= Clay Postdoctoral Fellowship: Clay Fellows |url=https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/opportunities/fellowships/clay/clayfellows.html |publisher=Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |access-date=17 May 2020}} In 2002, he took up an appointment as an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at Harvard University.{{Cite web |title= Chandra Chronicles Spotlight: Bryan Gaensler |url=https://chandra.harvard.edu/chronicle/0405/gaensler/index.html |publisher=Chandra X-ray Centre, Harvard University |date=15 December 2005 |access-date=17 May 2020}}

In 2006, he moved back to Sydney as an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow in the School of Physics at the University of Sydney and in 2011 he was also appointed Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO).{{cite web |url=http://sydney.edu.au/news/science/397.html?newsstoryid=7757 |title=CAASTRO: A new way of looking at the sky |publisher=University of Sydney |author=Katynna Gill |date=13 November 2011 |access-date=6 March 2013}} In June 2014, Gaensler announced that he would be leaving CAASTRO and taking up a position as director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at The University of Toronto{{Cite web |url=http://www.caastro.org/news/2014-director |title=Statement from CAASTRO Director Bryan Gaensler|access-date=11 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714212635/http://www.caastro.org/news/2014-director |archive-date=14 July 2014 |url-status=dead }} commencing in January 2015.

Gaensler was Editor-in-Chief of Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia from 2009 to 2014.{{Cite web |title=PASA Editors |url=http://asa.astronomy.org.au/council_history/Editors.pdf |publisher=Astronomical Society of Australia |access-date=17 May 2020 |archive-date=8 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200308105958/http://asa.astronomy.org.au/council_history/Editors.pdf |url-status=dead }} His contributions to PASA included redefining the scope of the journal to move away from accepting conference summaries and "intermediate results", moving to Cambridge University Press as publisher, and introducing the Dawes Reviews, named after early Australian astronomer of William Dawes.{{citation |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/hr/HR18002 |title=Scientific society journals: the publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia |date=24 April 2018 |doi=10.1071/HR18002 |last1=Lomb |first1=N. |journal= Historical Records of Australian Science| volume=29| issue=2 |pages=112–121|bibcode=2018HRAuS..29..112L |url-access=subscription }}

In 1997, Gaensler showed that many supernova remnants are aligned with the magnetic field of the Milky Way like "cosmic compasses".{{cite web |url=http://www.csiro.au/communication/mediarel/mr1997/mr97141.htm |title=STUDENT DISCOVERY: EXPLODED STARS 'COSMIC COMPASSES' |date=9 July 1997 |publisher=CSIRO Australia |access-date=28 December 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090603033934/http://www.csiro.au/communication/mediarel/mr1997/mr97141.htm |archive-date=3 June 2009 }} In 2000, he and Dale Frail calculated that some pulsars are much older than previously believed.{{cite web |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/07/31/pulsar.age |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120710004010/http://edition.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/07/31/pulsar.age |url-status=dead |archive-date=10 July 2012 |title=Pulsars 'lying about their age,' astronomers conclude |publisher=CNN |date=31 July 2000 |access-date=28 December 2009}} In 2004, Gaensler used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to make the first detailed study of the behavior of high-energy particles around a fast moving pulsar.{{cite web |url=http://chandra.harvard.edu/press/04_releases/press_092304.html |title=The Mouse That Soared |date=23 September 2004 |publisher=Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics |access-date=28 December 2009}}

In 2005, Gaensler was reported to have solved the mystery of why some supernova explosions form magnetars while others form ordinary pulsars.{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050201193246.htm |title=Magnetic Mystery Solved |date=2 February 2005 |access-date=28 December 2009 |publisher=ScienceDaily }} Later that year, he and his colleagues observed one of the brightest explosions ever observed in the history of astronomy, resulting from a sudden pulse of gamma rays from the magnetar SGR 1806-20.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/18/science/18cnd-star.html?ex=1132549200&en=66aaefe50408638d&ei=5070&8bl |title=Starburst Was One of Brightest Objects Observed on Earth |work=The New York Times |first=KENNETH |last=CHANG |date=18 February 2005 |access-date=28 December 2009}} Also in 2005, he reported puzzling new observations of the Large Magellanic Cloud, showing that powerful but unknown forces were at work in maintaining this galaxy's magnetic field.{{cite web |url=http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0503/12chaos/ |title=Scientists say hassled galaxy 'thriving on chaos' |publisher=Spaceflight Now |date=12 March 2005 |access-date=28 December 2009 }}

Gaensler was formerly the international project scientist for the Square Kilometre Array, a next-generation radio telescope.{{citation needed|date=May 2020}} He is a member of the SKA Magnetism Science Working Group.{{cite web |author=Square Kilometre Array |url=https://www.skatelescope.org/people-contacts/swg-terms-of-reference/magnetism-swg-membership/ |title=Magnetism Science Working Group Membership |publisher=SKA Telescope |access-date=6 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208210336/https://www.skatelescope.org/people-contacts/swg-terms-of-reference/magnetism-swg-membership/ |archive-date=8 December 2013}}

In 2011, Gaensler published his first book, Extreme Cosmos.{{cite book |last1=Gaensler |first1=Bryan |title=Extreme cosmos : a guided tour of the fastest, brightest, hottest, heaviest, oldest, and most amazing aspects of our universe |publisher=Perigee Books |isbn=978-0399537516 |date=July 3, 2012 |edition=1st American |access-date=24 May 2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H3BVYAAACAAJ}}

Gaensler married Laura Beth Bugg.{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-universe-on-a-dinner-plate-20130621-2onxe.html |title=The universe on a dinner plate|website=SMH|date=23 July 2023 }}

• Hubble Fellow at the Center for Space Research of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998-2001)
• Young Australian of the Year (1999){{cite web|title=Bryan Gaensler|url=https://www.australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/bryan-gaensler/142/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806015231/https://australianoftheyear.org.au/recipients/bryan-gaensler/142/|url-status=dead|archive-date=6 August 2020|website=Australian of the Year Awards|publisher=National Australia Day Council|access-date=7 February 2022}}
• Gave the Australia Day Address (2001)
• Clay Fellow, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (2001)
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow (2005){{Cite web |title=Past Fellows (2005) |url=https://sloan.org/past-fellows?page=175 |publisher=Alfred P. Sloan Foundation |access-date=17 May 2020 }}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
• Australian Research Council Federation Fellow (2005)
• Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy (2006){{cite web|title=Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy|url=http://aas.org/about/grants-and-prizes/newton-lacy-pierce-prize-astronomy|publisher=American Astronomical Society|access-date=6 February 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130211120528/http://aas.org/about/grants-and-prizes/newton-lacy-pierce-prize-astronomy|archive-date=11 February 2013|url-status=dead}}
• Australian Research Council Australian Laureate Fellow (2010){{cite web|title=Professor Bryan Gaensler: A Survey of the Universe's Magnetism|url=http://www.arc.gov.au/pdf/ALF10/ALF_professor_bryan_gaensler.pdf|publisher=Australian Research Council|access-date=6 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402042400/http://arc.gov.au/pdf/ALF10/ALF_professor_bryan_gaensler.pdf|archive-date=2 April 2015}}
• Pawsey Medal (2011){{cite news|last1=Gill|first1=Katynna|title=Professor Bryan Gaensler wins Pawsey Medal|url=http://sydney.edu.au/news/science/397.html?newsstoryid=6140|access-date=6 February 2015|work=The University of Sydney News|publisher=University of Sydney|date=7 December 2010}}
• Elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science (2013){{cite web|url=http://sydney.edu.au/news/physics/1737.html?newsstoryid=11259 |title=News | The University of Sydney |publisher=Sydney.edu.au |date=27 March 2013 |access-date=23 September 2013}}
• Scopus Young Researcher of The Year Award - Physical Science (2013){{cite web|title=Professor Bryan Gaensler wins Scopus Young Researcher Award|url=http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newsstoryid=12330|website=The University of Sydney|access-date=2 July 2014}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{external media | width = 20em | float = right | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U3CIYTJnmM A new way of looking at the sky], Bryan Gaensler, TEDx talk, 9 June 2011, 14m, 20s }}

• {{Official website|1=http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~bmg}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20050615100406/http://www.australiaday.com.au/address_welcome.html Australia Day Address]
• [http://www.usyd.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=2&newsstoryid=2163 Webpage at the University of Sydney - The Milky Way is twice the size we thought it was]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20090602204354/http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~psr_snr/ Gaensler & Slane (GaS) Research Group]
• [http://www.caastro.org/ ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics]
• [http://www.iau.org/administration/membership/individual/?search=bryan+gaensler Directory page at IAU]

{{s-start}}

{{succession box|title=Young Australian of the Year|before=Tan Le|after=Ian Thorpe|years=1999}}

{{s-end}}

{{Young Australians of the Year}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaensler, Bryan}}

Category:1973 births

Category:21st-century Australian astronomers

Category:Living people

Category:Harvard University faculty

Category:21st-century Canadian astronomers

Category:People educated at Sydney Grammar School

Category:University of Sydney alumni

Category:Hubble Fellows

Category:Fellows of the Australian Academy of Science

Category:Recipients of the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy