David Axon
{{Short description|British astrophysicist (1951–2012)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
|name = David John Axon
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|image_size = 150px
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|birth_date = 1951
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|death_date = {{death date and age|2012|04|05|1951|01|01|df=y}}
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|fields = Astronomy
|workplaces = {{Nowrap|Rochester Institute of Technology
University of Hertfordshire
Space Telescope Science Institute
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Cambridge University
University of Manchester
University of Sussex}}
|alma_mater = University of Durham
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David John Axon (1951 – 5 April 2012) was a British astrophysicist specialising in observations of active galactic nuclei. He was a professor at the University of Hertfordshire and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), and at the time of his death was Head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex.
Early life
David Axon was born in Doncaster in the county of Yorkshire, England, to an English father and Welsh mother. He studied at the University of Durham (Hatfield College), where he earned a BSc in Physics in 1972.{{cite web|title=Durham University Gazette, XIX (ns), supplement|url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Gazettes/DUGazette19_3/dg193METS.xml;query=david%20axon;brand=default#page/18/mode/2up|website=reed.dur.ac.uk|accessdate=13 March 2018|language=en}} In 1978 he completed his Ph.D. at the same institution under the direction of Arnold Wolfendale.{{cite web|title=Durham University Gazette, XXIV (ns) including supplement|url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=bookreader/DU_Gazettes/DUGazette24/dg24METS.xml;query=david%20axon;brand=default#page/74/mode/2up|website=reed.dur.ac.uk|accessdate=13 March 2018|language=en}} He subsequently held research fellowships at the University of Sussex, University College London and the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge.
Career
In 1983 Axon was appointed to a faculty position at the University of Manchester where he taught Physics and carried out research at the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratory at Jodrell Bank Observatory. In 1993 he took up an appointment at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore where he was the instrument scientist responsible for the NICMOS near infra-red camera. He returned to Manchester in 1998 but the following year was appointed Professor and Head of the Department of Physical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire. From 2002–2008 he was Professor and Chair of the Physics Department at RIT. He maintained a research chair at Hertfordshire. Axon returned to the UK in 2009 to become the Head of the School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences at the University of Sussex.
Contributions
David Axon was a leading expert in the field of astronomical polarimetry and the phenomenology of active galactic nuclei. His scientific accomplishments included discovery of the first, X-ray selected BL Lac object, discovery of the first "superwind" galaxy, and discovery of strong magnetic fields in the jets of young stellar objects.
Death
References
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External links
- [http://www.ras.org.uk/component/gem/?id=223 David Axon Memorial Meeting]
{{RIT}}
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Category:21st-century British astronomers
Category:Rochester Institute of Technology faculty
Category:Academics of the University of Hertfordshire
Category:Academics of the Victoria University of Manchester
Category:Academics of the University of Sussex
Category:Alumni of Hatfield College, Durham
Category:British astrophysicists