Meg Urry

{{Infobox scientist

|name = Meg Urry

|image = Meg Urry.jpg

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|caption = Meg Urry speaking at Fermilab.

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|field = Astrophysics

|work_institution = Yale University

| education = Tufts University, B.A. 1977
Johns Hopkins University, M.S. 1979
Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. 1984

|doctoral_advisor = Art Davidsen

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Claudia Megan Urry is an American astrophysicist, who has served as the President of the American Astronomical Society, as chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University, and as part of the Hubble Space Telescope faculty.Eileen Pollack, [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/06/magazine/why-are-there-still-so-few-women-in-science.html "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?"], New York Times, Oct. 6, 2013. She is currently the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.{{Cite web|title=Meg Urry {{!}} Department of Physics|url=https://physics.yale.edu/people/meg-urry|access-date=2021-08-11|website=physics.yale.edu|language=en}} Urry is notable not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including work on black holes and multiwavelength surveys, but also for her work addressing sexism and sex equality in astronomy,{{cite book|editor=Röser, Siegfried|author=Urry, Meg|chapter=Women in (European) Astronomy|series=Reviews in Modern Astronomy|title=Formation and Evolution of Cosmic Structures|volume=21|publisher=Wiley-VCH|year=2010|pages=249–261|isbn=9783527629206|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0uSRHMfW8EQC&pg=PA249}} 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,Karen Masters, [http://blog.galaxyzoo.org/2010/05/02/shes-an-astronomer-meg-urry/ "She's an Astronomer: Meg Urry"], Galaxy Zoo (May 2, 2010) graduating in 1977.[http://www.astro.yale.edu/people/meg-urry "Meg Urry"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004232722/http://www.astro.yale.edu/people/meg-urry |date=2013-10-04 }} (faculty profile), Yale University She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and received the N. Hopes Knight Award for Physics.{{Cite web |title=Meg Urry |url=https://www.womenofhopkins.com/urry |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=the-women-of-hopkins |language=en}} She became interested in astronomy during the summer of her junior year when she interned at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.{{Cite web|last=Panek|first=Richard|date=March–April 2014|title=Astronomy and gender politics|url=https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3843-astronomy-and-gender-politics|access-date=2021-08-11|website=yalealumnimagazine.com|language=en}}

Urry earned an M.S. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1984) in physics from Johns Hopkins, where her advisor was Art Davidsen. For her dissertation, she studied blazars at Goddard Space Flight Center with Richard Mushotzky.

Career

After finishing her Ph.D., Urry conducted a post-doctorate at M.I.T.'s Center for Space Research, working with Claude Canizares. This was followed by another post-doctorate at the Space Telescope Science Institute, after which, in 1990, the Institute hired her as a full-time astronomer.

Urry joined Yale's faculty in 2001, at that time as the only woman in the department. She served as Chair of the Yale Physics Department from 2007 to 2013.{{Cite web|title=C. Megan Urry|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/3001457.html|access-date=2021-08-11|website=www.nasonline.org}} From 2013 to 2017 she served in the Presidential line of the American Astronomical Society, from 2013-2014 as President-Elect, 2014-2016 as President, and 2016-2017 as Past President.{{Cite web|title=AAS 2013 Election Results {{!}} American Astronomical Society|url=https://aas.org/posts/news/2013/02/aas-2013-election-results|access-date=2021-08-11|website=aas.org}} In 2020 she was named one of the American Astronomical Society's inaugural class of fellows.{{Cite web|last=Shelton|first=Jim|date=2020-03-05|title=Basu, Fischer, Urry named inaugural AAS Fellows|url=https://news.yale.edu/2020/03/05/basu-fischer-urry-named-inaugural-aas-fellows|access-date=2021-08-11|website=YaleNews|language=en}}

Urry has been active in addressing sex inequality in astronomy and science more generally, giving more than 60 talks on the topic, including at the annual Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP). With Laura Danly, Urry co-organized the first meeting of Women in Astronomy in 1992. This meeting produced the "Baltimore Charter," which was drafted by Sheila Tobias and eventually endorsed by the Council of the American Astronomical Society.{{Cite news|date=2003-07-11|title=Women in astronomy: Good news and ambiguous news|work=Christian Science Monitor|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0711/p25s02-stss.html|access-date=2021-08-11|issn=0882-7729}} Reducing the prevalence of sexual harassment in astronomy was also an area of focus for Urry during the time she was President of the American Astronomical Society.{{Cite web|last=Scoles|first=Sarah|date=2016-01-06|title=Astronomers Are Finally Doing Something About Sexual Harassment|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/01/gender-discrimination-astronomy/422817/|access-date=2021-08-11|website=The Atlantic|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Dreifus|first=Claudia|date=2016-11-28|title=C. Megan Urry, Peering Into Universe, Spots Bias on the Ground|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/28/science/c-megan-urry-peering-into-universe-spots-bias-on-the-ground.html|access-date=2021-08-18|issn=0362-4331}} In 2010 she won the Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium, and in 2015 she won the Edward A. Bouchet Leadership award from Yale University.{{Cite web |title=Meg Urry {{!}} AUI |url=https://aui.edu/trustees/meg-urry/ |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=aui.edu |language=en-US}}

Urry has published over 330 papers in refereed journals, including one of the most highly cited review papers in astronomy.{{Cite web |title=C. Megan Urry |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/3001457.html |access-date=2023-06-08 |website=www.nasonline.org}} She studies supermassive black holes, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and the relationship of normal galaxies to AGNs. She and her research group participated in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate the growth of supermassive black holes.{{Cite web|title=Charting the heavens like never before, via Sloan Digital Sky Survey|url=https://phys.org/news/2014-07-heavens-sloan-digital-sky-survey.html|access-date=2021-08-11|website=phys.org|language=en}}

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{{Cite web |date=2007-05-23 |title=Academy To Honor Connecticut's Top Student Scientists Young Scientists and Engineers Take the Spotlight at Annual Awards Dinner |url=https://ctcase.org/academy-to-honor-connecticuts-top-student-scientists-young-scientists-2007/ |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering |language=en-US}}
2008, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2010, Women in Space Science Award{{Cite web |title=Meg Urry, Physics & Astronomy {{!}} Faculty of Arts and Sciences |url=https://fas.yale.edu/book/firsts-and-founders-fas-series-celebration-50womenatyale150/meg-urry-physics-astronomy |access-date=2022-04-10 |website=fas.yale.edu}}
2012, George Van Biesbroeck Prize
2016, National Academy of Sciences{{cite web | url=http://www.nasonline.org/news-and-multimedia/news/may-3-2016-NAS-Election.html

|title=National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected |date= |access-date=2016-05-05}}{{Cite web|title=AAS Members Urry, Heckman Elected to National Academy of Sciences {{!}} American Astronomical Society|url=https://aas.org/posts/news/2016/05/aas-members-urry-heckman-elected-national-academy-sciences|access-date=2021-08-11|website=aas.org}}

2020, American Astronomical Society Fellow
2023, American Astronomical Society High Energy Astrophysics Division Distinguished Career Prize {{Cite web|title=The HEAD Distinguished Career Prize{{!}}AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division|url=https://head.aas.org/prizes/distinguished_career|access-date=2023-01-18}}

References

External links

[https://physics.yale.edu/people/meg-urry "Meg Urry"] (faculty profile), Yale University
[https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/45444 Oral History Interview] conducted July 1, 2020, American Institute of Physics
"[https://www.stsci.edu/stsci/meetings/WiA/BaltoCharter.html The Baltimore Charter for Women in Astronomy]," Space Telescope Science Institute

Category:Yale University faculty

Category:Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni

Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni

Category:American astrophysicists

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:American women astronomers

Category:Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy

Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences

Category:Scientific American people

Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society