Duncan Lorimer
{{Short description|Astrophysicist}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2022}}
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| caption = Duncan Lorimer in 2023
| birth_name = Duncan Ross Lorimer
| birth_date = {{birth date and age |1969|05|09}}
| birth_place = Darlington
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| fields = Pulsars
| workplaces = West Virginia University
Cornell University
University of Manchester
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| education = Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College
| alma_mater = University of Wales (BSc)
University of Manchester (MSc, PhD)
| thesis_title = Galactic population of millisecond and normal pulsars
| thesis_url = https://www.librarysearch.manchester.ac.uk/permalink/44MAN_INST/1r887gn/alma992983072749501631
| thesis_year = 1996
| doctoral_advisor = Andrew Lyne
Matthew Bailes
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| awards = Shaw Prize (2023)
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| spouse = Maura McLaughlin
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Duncan Ross Lorimer {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} (born 1969) is a British-born American astrophysicist. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at West Virginia University, known for the discovery of the first fast radio burst in 2007.{{Cite web|title=A brief history: What we know so far about fast radio bursts across the universe|url=https://phys.org/news/2021-02-history-fast-radio-universe.html|access-date=May 5, 2021|work=phys.org|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Burst of radio waves in Milky Way probably came from neutron star|url=http://www.theguardian.com/science/2020/nov/04/burst-of-radio-waves-in-milky-way-probably-came-from-neutron-star|access-date=May 5, 2021|date=November 4, 2020|work=The Guardian|language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Let's ask the co-discoverer of the Fast Radio Burst, Duncan Lorimer|url=https://gwac.wvu.edu/blog/2020/11/09/let-s-ask-the-co-discoverer-of-the-fast-radio-burst-duncan-lorimer|access-date=May 5, 2021|work=Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology|date=November 9, 2020 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title=There are weird bursts of energy coming from deep space|url=https://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160606-there-are-weird-bursts-of-energy-coming-from-deep-space|access-date=May 5, 2021|last=Woo|first=Marcus|work=BBC|language=en}}{{Google scholar id}}
Education
Lorimer was educated at Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College and University of Wales College at Cardiff where he studied Astrophysics. He received his MSc and PhD from the University of Manchester in 1991 and 1994, respectively, for research carried out at Jodrell Bank Observatory supervised by Andrew Lyne, Dick Manchester and Matthew Bailes.{{cite thesis|degree=PhD|first=Duncan Ross|last=Lorimer |year=1996|title=Galactic population of millisecond and normal pulsars
| url= https://www.librarysearch.manchester.ac.uk/permalink/44MAN_INST/1r887gn/alma992983072749501631|website=manchester.ac.uk|oclc=657642507|publisher=University of Manchester}}
Career and research
Lorimer held appointments at University of Manchester (Lecturer, 1994–1995); the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (postdoctoral fellow, 1995–1998); Cornell University (postdoctoral Fellow, 1998–2001); University of Manchester (Royal Society University Research Fellow, 2001–2006) and West Virginia University (Faculty, 2006–present).
The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007 when Lorimer assigned his student David Narkevic at West Virginia University to look through archival data taken in 2001 by the Parkes radio dish in Australia.{{cite news |last=McKee |first=Maggie |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12699-extragalactic-radio-burst-puzzles-astronomers/ |title=Extragalactic radio burst puzzles astronomers |work=New Scientist |date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=September 18, 2015}} Analysis of the survey data found a 30-jansky dispersed burst which occurred on July 24, 2001,{{cite journal |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/318/5851/777?ck=nck |title=A Bright Millisecond Radio Burst of Extragalactic Origin |author=D. R. Lorimer |display-authors=4 |author2=M. Bailes |author3=M. A. McLaughlin |author4=D. J. Narkevic |author5=F. Crawford |date=September 27, 2007 |access-date=June 23, 2010| journal=Science |volume=318| pages=777–780| number=5851| arxiv=0709.4301| doi=10.1126/science.1147532 |pmid=17901298 |bibcode=2007Sci...318..777L |hdl=1959.3/42649|s2cid=15321890 }} less than 5 milliseconds in duration, located 3° from the Small Magellanic Cloud. The burst became known as the Lorimer Burst or FRB 010724.{{cite journal | doi = 10.1038/nphys2724 | title=No flash in the pan | journal=Nature Physics | date=2013 | volume=9 | issue=8 | pages=454 | first=May | last=Chiao|bibcode = 2013NatPh...9..454C| doi-access=free }}
=Awards and honours=
In 2023, he was awarded the Shaw Prize in Astronomy.{{cite web|url=https://www.shawprize.org/autobiography/duncan-lorimer/|website=shawprize.org|title=Duncan Lorimer autobiography}}{{cite web|url=https://www.shawprize.org/news/announcement-press-conference-2023-press-release|website=shawprize.org|title= Shaw Prize 2023}} He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024.https://royalsociety.org/news/2024/05/new-fellows-2024/
Personal life
Lorimer's wife Maura McLaughlin is also a professor at West Virginia University. They have three children.{{Cite journal|title=WVU Astrophysicist Making Waves, Discovering New Pulsars|journal=The Neuron|volume=Winter 2011}} {{failed verification|date=August 2017}}
References
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Category:American astrophysicists
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Alumni of the University of Wales
Category:Alumni of the University of Manchester