Robert J. Nemiroff

Nemiroff's research interests include gamma-ray bursts, gravitational lensing, sky monitoring, and cosmology.

Among other findings, his research on gamma-ray bursts:

• showed (along with others) that gamma-ray bursts are consistent with a cosmological distance scale origin before they were discovered to be so distant{{cite journal|last=Norris|first=J. P.|author2=Nemiroff, R. J. |author3=Scargle, J. D. |author4=Kouveliotou, C. |author5=Fishman, G. J. |author6=Meegan, C. A. |author7=Paciesas, W. S. |author8= Bonnell, J. T. |title=Detection of signature consistent with cosmological time dilation in gamma-ray bursts|journal=Astrophysical Journal|date=April 1994|volume=424|issue=2|pages=540–545|doi=10.1086/173912|bibcode=1994ApJ...424..540N|arxiv=astro-ph/9312049|s2cid=18635092}}{{cite news|last=Wilford|first=John Noble|title=Gamma-Ray Finding Bolsters Einstein Theory, Report Says|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/01/16/us/gamma-ray-finding-bolsters-einstein-theory-report-says.html|accessdate=23 January 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 16, 1994}}
• led a team that, along with others, showed a lack of energy-dependence in the speed of photons from distant gamma-ray bursts which implies, in contrast to some theories of quantum gravity, that the universe is smooth below the Planck-length scale, as Einstein had predicted{{cite web|title=Spacetime: A smoother brew than we knew|url=http://phys.org/news/2013-01-spacetime-smoother-brew-knew.html|accessdate=22 January 2014}}{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert J.|author2=Connolly, Ryan |author3=Holmes, Justin |author4= Kostinski, Alexander B. |title=Bounds on Spectral Dispersion from Fermi-Detected Gamma Ray Bursts|journal=Physical Review Letters|date=June 2012|volume=108|issue=23|doi=10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.231103|bibcode=2012PhRvL.108w1103N |pmid=23003941 |page=231103|arxiv=1109.5191|s2cid=15592150}}{{cite news|last=Cowen|first=Ron|title=Cosmic race ends in a tie|url=http://www.nature.com/news/cosmic-race-ends-in-a-tie-1.9768|accessdate=23 January 2014|newspaper=Nature|date=10 January 2012}}

In 1999 Nemiroff and colleague Bruce Rafert published a paper showing that continuous astronomical sky monitors could soon become a reality.{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=R.J.|author2=Rafert, J.B. |title=Toward a Continuous Record of the Sky|journal=Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific|volume=111|issue=761|pages=886–897|doi=10.1086/316402|bibcode=1999PASP..111..886N|arxiv=astro-ph/9809403|year=1999|s2cid=16621680}} With students, Nemiroff's initial night sky monitor was an automatically repeating SLR camera with a fisheye lens deployed to Michigan Technological University in 1999,{{cite journal|last=Zimmer|first=G.A.|author2=Pereira, W.E. |author3=Nemiroff, R.J. |author4= Rafert, J.B. |title=A Passive Sky Variability Monitor for Under $1500|journal=American Astronomical Society, 194th AAS Meeting, #70.09|volume=31|series=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society|pages=93|bibcode=1999AAS...194.7009Z|year=1999}} Nemiroff then led a group that designed, built, and deployed the first astronomical all sky optical web monitor, dubbed a CONtinuous CAMera (CONCAM), and in 2000 deployed it to Kitt Peak National Observatory.{{cite journal|last=Pereira|first=W.E.|author2=Nemiroff, R.J. |author3=Rafert, J.B. |author4=Ftaclas, C. |author5= Perez-Ramirez, D. |title=CONCAM Sky Monitor Operating at KPNO|journal=American Astronomical Society, 197th AAS Meeting, #115.10|volume=32|series=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society|pages=1599|bibcode=2000AAS...19711510P|year=2000}} By the mid-2000s, most major astronomical observatories deployed CONCAM or CONCAM-like devices together capable of monitoring most of the night sky most of the time.{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=R.J.|author2=Schwarz, H.E. |collaboration=CONCAM Collaboration & TASCA Collaboration |title=Expanding Fisheye Webcam Network Now Capable of Monitoring Most of the Night Sky|journal=American Astronomical Society Meeting 202, #03.03|volume=35|series=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society|page=702|bibcode=2003AAS...202.0303N|year=2003}} Astronomical all sky web monitors are now common at astronomical observing sites.See, for example, http://www.cfht.hawaii.edu/~asiva/ & http://www.nasa.gov/connect/chat/allsky.html ; http://www.allskycam.com/ Subsequent collaborative efforts in astronomical deep-sky monitoring now include Pan-STARRs and LSST.

In 1986, he predicted the likelihood of microlensing{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert J.|title=Random gravitational lensing|journal=Astrophysics and Space Science|date=June 1986|volume=123|issue=2|pages=381–387|doi=10.1007/BF00653957|bibcode=1986Ap&SS.123..381N|s2cid=122855233}} and calculated basic microlensing induced light curves for several possible lens-source configurations in his 1987 thesis.{{cite thesis|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert J.|title=Prediction and analysis of basic gravitational microlensing phenomena|date=December 1987|bibcode=1987PhDT........12N|doi=10.5281/zenodo.33974}}

Among his microlensing findings, he, along with others:

• predicted before observational recovery that microlensing light curves can effectively resolve the surface of source stars{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert J.|author2=Wickramasinghe, W. A. D. T.|title=Finite source sizes and the information content of macho-type lens search light curves|journal=Astrophysical Journal Letters|date=March 1994|volume=424|issue=1|pages=L21–L23|doi=10.1086/187265|bibcode=1994ApJ...424L..21N|arxiv=astro-ph/9401005|s2cid=7563285}}
• showed that microlensing boosts the brightnesses of stars actually below the magnitude limit of a survey over the survey limit{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert J.|title=Magnification bias in galactic microlensing searches|journal=Astrophysical Journal|date=November 1994|volume=435|issue=2|pages=682–684|doi=10.1086/174845|bibcode=1994ApJ...435..682N|arxiv=astro-ph/9403013|s2cid=17221617}}

Nemiroff and graduate student Bijunath R. Patla showed that the Sun is a "very interesting gravitational lens,"{{cite web|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert|title=Who is this R. J. Nemiroff? Some Favorite Astronomy Ideas|url=http://www.phy.mtu.edu/apod/NotableIdeas.html#SunLens|accessdate=22 January 2014}}{{cite journal|last=Patla|first=Bijunath|author2=Nemiroff, Robert J. |title=Gravitational Lensing Characteristics of the Transparent Sun|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|date=2008|volume=685|issue=2|pages=1297–1303|doi=10.1086/588805|bibcode=2008ApJ...685.1297P|arxiv=0711.4811|s2cid=15979972}} and Nemiroff found that GRB pulses start at the same time at every energy and that they are scale invariant over energy.{{cite journal|last=Nemiroff|first=Robert|title=The Pulse Scale Conjecture and the Case of BATSE Trigger 2193|journal=The Astrophysical Journal|date=2000|volume=544|issue=2|pages=805–810|doi=10.1086/317230|bibcode=2000ApJ...544..805N|arxiv=astro-ph/0001345|s2cid=10581733}}

His complete publication list is [http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-abs_connect?db_key=AST&db_key=PHY&db_key=PRE&qform=AST&arxiv_sel=astro-ph&arxiv_sel=cond-mat&arxiv_sel=cs&arxiv_sel=gr-qc&arxiv_sel=hep-ex&arxiv_sel=hep-lat&arxiv_sel=hep-ph&arxiv_sel=hep-th&arxiv_sel=math&arxiv_sel=math-ph&arxiv_sel=nlin&arxiv_sel=nucl-ex&arxiv_sel=nucl-th&arxiv_sel=physics&arxiv_sel=quant-ph&arxiv_sel=q-bio&sim_query=YES&ned_query=YES&adsobj_query=YES&aut_logic=OR&obj_logic=OR&author=Nemiroff%2C+R.&object=&start_mon=&start_year=&end_mon=&end_year=&ttl_logic=OR&title=&txt_logic=OR&text=&nr_to_return=2000&start_nr=1&jou_pick=ALL&ref_stems=&data_and=ALL&group_and=ALL&start_entry_day=&start_entry_mon=&start_entry_year=&end_entry_day=&end_entry_mon=&end_entry_year=&min_score=&sort=SCORE&data_type=SHORT&aut_syn=YES&ttl_syn=YES&txt_syn=YES&aut_wt=1.0&obj_wt=1.0&ttl_wt=0.3&txt_wt=3.0&aut_wgt=YES&obj_wgt=YES&ttl_wgt=YES&txt_wgt=YES&ttl_sco=YES&txt_sco=YES&version=1 available from ADS].

Nemiroff is one of two creators and editors of the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website. Started in 1995 by Nemiroff and Dr. Jerry T. Bonnell, [http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html APOD] is consistently among the most popular astronomy sites.{{cite journal|last=Pullen|first=Lee|author2=Russo, Pedro |title=Robert Nemiroff: Communicating Astronomy 365 Days a Year|journal=Communicating Astronomy with the Public|date=June 2010|volume=8|issue=8|pages=22–23|bibcode=2010CAPJ....8...22P|url=http://www.capjournal.org/issues/08/08_22.php|accessdate=22 January 2014}} Its home page typically receives over one million hits per day;{{cite web|title=From 14 to a Million: The Astronomical Growth of the Astronomy Picture of the Day|url=http://physicsbuzz.physicscentral.com/2014/01/from-14-to-million-astronomical-growth.html|work=Physics Buzz|accessdate=26 January 2014}} APOD has served over one billion images {{Cite APOD|title=APOD Turns 17|date=16 June 2012|access-date=22 January 2014}} since its start. It is translated into more than 20 languages and has social media outlets on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, and various apps.{{Cite APOD|title=APOD Turns 17|date=16 June 2012|access-date=22 January 2014}}

Nemiroff and Bonnell were awarded the 2015 Klumpke-Roberts Award by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific "for outstanding contributions to public understanding and appreciation of astronomy" for their work on APOD.{{cite web|url=http://www.astrosociety.org/about-us/klumpke-roberts-award-of-the-astronomical-society-of-the-pacific/|title=Klumpke-Roberts Award of The Astronomical Society of the Pacific|publisher=Astronomical Society}}{{cite web|url=https://www.astrosociety.org/society-news/the-astronomical-society-of-the-pacific-announces-its-2015-award-recipients-for-astronomy-research-and-education/#klumpke|title=The Astronomical Society of the Pacific Announces Its 2015 Award Recipients For Astronomy Research And Education|publisher=Astronomical Society}}

Nemiroff and John Wallin established the Astrophysics Source Code Library (ASCL), an online registry of scientist-written software used in astronomy or astrophysics research, in 1999.{{cite journal|title=The Astrophysics Source Code Library|journal=Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society|author=Nemiroff, R. J.|author2=Wallin, J. F. |volume=31 |page=885 |date=May 1999|bibcode=1999AAS...194.4408N}} The ASCL improves the transparency of astrophysics research by making the software used in research discoverable for examination.{{cite web|title=Astrophysics Source Code Library|url=http://ascl.net/|accessdate=21 October 2013}}

• [https://www.amazon.com/The-Universe-Robert-J-Nemiroff/dp/B007PMQML2 The Universe: 365 Days], 2003
• [https://www.amazon.com/Astronomy-Days-Jerry-T-Bonnell/dp/0810957159/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1390426044&sr=1-1&keywords=bonnell+astronomy%3A+365+days Astronomy: 365 Days], 2006
• [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1662933843/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1&fbclid=IwAR1n88mOV588vj4QFJm3kt0oHU8VCo8ilJq3tzzlVZnfV2w8OEklaCjNIG0 Faster than Light: How Your Shadow Can Do It but You Can't], 2023

He was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2022 "for exceptional daily astronomy outreach for over 25 years, primarily through the Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) website, which has served billions of space-related images with explanations translated daily into over 20 languages".{{cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=2022|title=Fellows nominated in 2022|work=APS Fellows archive|publisher=American Physical Society|access-date=2022-10-19}} In 2023, an asteroid formerly known as 2002 GB185 was named "(270558) Nemiroff" in recognition of his role in APOD.{{cite report|author=International Astronomical Union|date=2023-01-16|title=WGSBN Bulletin Volume 3, #1|url=https://www.wgsbn-iau.org/files/Bulletins/V003/WGSBNBull_V003_001.pdf|publisher=WG Small Bodies Nomenclature|access-date = 2023-01-24}}

Nemiroff and Bonnell were awarded the inaugural International Astronomical Union (IAU) Astronomy Outreach Prize

{{cite web |title=IAU Announces Winners of First Prizes for Astronomy Outreach, Development and Education |url=https://www.iau.org/news/pressreleases/detail/iau2206/ |publisher=International Astronomical Union |access-date=5 September 2023}} in 2022.

• NSF CAREER Award (1997)
• MTU Research Award (2012)
• MTU University Professor (2021)

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.mtu.edu/physics/department/faculty/nemiroff/ Faculty web page at MTU]
• [http://apod.nasa.gov/ Astronomy Picture of the Day]
• [http://ascl.net/ Astrophysics Source Code Library]
• {{Gutenberg author | id=77}}
• {{Internet Archive author |sname=Robert J. Nemiroff}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemiroff, Robert J.}}

Category:American astrophysicists

Category:American astronomers

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society

Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:Lehigh University alumni

Category:Michigan Technological University faculty