Victoria Kaspi

{{Infobox scientist

| name = Vicky Kaspi

| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|CC|FRS|FRSC|size=100%}}

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| image = Victoria M Kaspi, recipient of the 2021 Shaw Prize in Astronomy (iau2104a).jpg

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| birth_name = Victoria Michelle Kaspi

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1967|06|30}}

| birth_place = Austin, Texas

| fields = Pulsars
Neutron stars
Astrophysics

| workplaces = McGill University
California Institute of Technology
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

| patrons =

| education =

| alma_mater = McGill University (BS)
Princeton University (PhD)

| thesis_title =Applications of pulsar timing

| thesis_url = https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1055558423

| thesis_year = 1993

|doctoral_advisor = Joseph Taylor

| academic_advisors =

| doctoral_students = Anne Archibald

| notable_students =

| known_for = Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment

| influences =

| influenced =

| awards = {{Plainlist|

Nature's 10 (2019)
Killam Prize (2015)
NAS member (2010)
Rutherford Medal (2007)
Herzberg Medal (2016)
Shaw Prize (2021)}}

| spouse = David Langleben

| partner =

| children =

| signature =

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| website = {{URL|http://www.physics.mcgill.ca/~vkaspi}}}}

Victoria Michelle Kaspi (born June 30, 1967) is a Canadian astrophysicist and a professor at McGill University. Her research primarily concerns neutron stars and pulsars.[http://www.prixduquebec.gouv.qc.ca/recherche/desclaureat.asp?noLaureat=391 Les Prix du Québec – la lauréate Victoria Kaspi]. (In French.)

Early life and education

Kaspi was born in Austin, Texas, but her family moved to Canada when she was seven years old. She completed her undergraduate studies at McGill in 1989, and went to Princeton University for her graduate studies, completing her PhD in 1993 supervised by Nobel Prize-winning astrophysicist Joseph Taylor.

Career and research

After positions at the California Institute of Technology, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she took a faculty position at McGill in 1999. At McGill, she held one of McGill's first Canada Research Chairs,[https://www.mcgill.ca/reporter/33/09/additions/kaspi/ Victoria Kaspi], by Bronwyn Chester, McGill Reporter, January 25, 2001. and in 2006 she was named the Lorne Trottier Professor of Astrophysics.[http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=0fdc401c-e705-4583-8429-40fe2ac1c573 Reaching for stars: juggling ambition, angst] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604114559/http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=0fdc401c-e705-4583-8429-40fe2ac1c573 |date=2011-06-04 }}, Montreal Gazette, February 6, 2007. She is also a Fellow in the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Kaspi's observations of the pulsar associated with supernova remnant G11.2–0.3 in the constellation Sagittarius, using the Chandra X-ray Observatory, showed that the pulsar was at the precise center of the supernova, which had been observed in 386 CE by the Chinese. This pulsar was only the second known pulsar to be associated with a supernova remnant, the first being the one in the Crab Nebula, and her studies greatly strengthened the conjectured relationship between pulsars and supernovae. Additionally, this observation cast into doubt previous methods of dating pulsars by their spin rate; these methods gave the pulsar an age that was 12 times too high to match the supernova.[https://www.nytimes.com/2001/01/11/us/scientists-find-second-pulsar-and-link-it-to-ancient-supernova.html Scientists Find Second Pulsar and Link It to Ancient Supernova], John Noble Wilford, New York Times, January 11, 2001.

Kaspi's research with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer showed that soft gamma repeaters, astronomical sources of irregular gamma ray bursts, and anomalous X-ray pulsars, slowly rotating pulsars with high magnetic fields, could both be explained as magnetars.[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/magnetars_020911.html Evidence Helps Confirm Existence of Powerful Magnetars], Robert Roy Britt, space.com, September 11, 2002.

She also helped discover the pulsar with the fastest known rotation rate, PSR J1748-2446ad, star clusters with a high concentration of pulsars, and (using the Green Bank Telescope) the "cosmic recycling" of a slow-spinning pulsar into a much faster millisecond pulsar.[http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,25520892-5012776,00.html Scientists witness cosmic recycling first], AdelaideNow, May 22, 2009.[http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Researchers_Catch_Nature_In_The_Act_Of_Recycling_A_Star_999.html Researchers catch nature in the act of "recycling" a star], Space Daily, May 22, 2009.

=Awards and honours=

1989: Anne Molson Gold Medal in Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, McGill University
1998: Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society
2004: Herzberg Medal of the Canadian Association of Physicists[http://www.cap.ca/awards/press/2004-Kaspi.html 2004 CAP Herzberg Medal will be awarded to Dr. Victoria Kaspi] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716022723/http://www.cap.ca/awards/press/2004-Kaspi.html |date=2011-07-16 }}, Canadian Association of Physicists, retrieved 2010-01-24.
2006: Steacie Prize[https://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/news/item/?item_id=23232 McGill professor Vicky Kaspi awarded coveted Steacie Prize], McGill University, December 14, 2006.
2007: Rutherford Memorial Medal of the Royal Society of Canada{{Cite web|url=https://rsc-src.ca/en/awards-excellence/past-award-winners|title=Past Award Winners {{!}} The Royal Society of Canada|website=rsc-src.ca|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2009: Prix Marie-Victorin, the highest scientific award of the province of Québec [http://reporter.mcgill.ca/2009/10/kaspi-earns-quebecs-top-honour/ Kaspi earns Quebec’s top honour]{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, McGill Reporter, January 24, 2010.
2010: Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS).{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/victoria-kaspi-11726/|title=Victoria Kaspi | Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org}}{{Cite web|url=https://royalsociety.org/500/?aspxerrorpath=/new-fellows-2010-h-k/|title=Error page | Royal Society|website=royalsociety.org}}
2010: Elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States{{Cite web|url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/3013839.html|title=Victoria Kaspi|website=www.nasonline.org}}
2010: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) John C. Polanyi Award {{Cite web|url=http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Prizes-Prix/Polanyi-Polanyi/Past-Anciens_eng.asp?Year=2010|title=NSERC – John C. Polanyi Award – Past Winners|last=Government of Canada|first=Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada|date=2016-06-28|website=Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2013: Peter G. Martin Award of Canadian Astronomical Society{{Cite web|url=https://casca.ca/?page_id=574|title=Martin Award – CASCA|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2013: Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/boardofgovernors/archives/queen-elizabeth-ii-diamond-jubilee-medal|title=Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal|website=Board of Governors|language=en|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2014: Elected a Fellow of American Physical Society{{Cite web|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm|title=APS Fellow Archive|website=www.aps.org|language=en|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2015: Elected member American Academy of Arts & Sciences{{Cite web|url=https://reporter.mcgill.ca/kaspi-lock-elected-to-american-academy/|title=Kaspi, Lock elected to American Academy|date=2015-04-28|website=McGill Reporter|language=en-US|access-date=2019-12-17}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.amacad.org/directory|title=Member Directory {{!}} American Academy of Arts and Sciences|website=www.amacad.org|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2015: Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Prize{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2015-killam-prize-1.3075462|title=The 2015 Killam Prize|date=2015-05-15|website=CBC News|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2016: Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering, the first woman to receive this prize.{{cite news |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/herzberg-kaspi-1.3205517 |title=Victoria Kaspi, neutron star researcher at McGill, wins $1M Herzberg medal |publisher=CBC News |date=February 16, 2016}}{{cite news |first=Diana |last=Mehta |url=http://www.lapresse.ca/sciences/201602/16/01-4951223-une-scientifique-de-mcgill-est-la-premiere-femme-a-recevoir-la-medaille-herzberg.php |title=Une scientifique de McGill est la première femme à recevoir la médaille Herzberg |publisher=La Presse Canadienne |date=February 16, 2016 |language=fr }}
2016: Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's second highest civilian honour.{{cite web|title=Governor General Announces 100 New Appointments to the Order of Canada as Canada Turns 150|url=https://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=16670&lan=eng|website=The Governor General of Canada His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston|access-date=31 December 2016}}
2017: Fonds de recherche du Québec, Prix d’excellence {{Cite web|url=http://www.frqnt.gouv.qc.ca/en/c/portal/layout?p_l_id=27015&p_v_l_s_g_id=0|title=Fonds Nature et technologies – Victoria Kaspi and Gilbert Laporte receive the 2017 Prix d'excellence FRQNT|website=www.frqnt.gouv.qc.ca|language=en-CA|access-date=2019-12-17}}
2019: Kaspi was recognized by Nature as one Nature's 10 for her work on discovering Fast Radio Bursts with the CHIME telescope.{{cite journal|last1=Cyranoski|first1=David|last2=Gaind|first2=Nisha|last3=Gibney|first3=Elizabeth|last4=Masood|first4=Ehsan|last5=Maxmen|first5=Amy|last6=Reardon|first6=Sara|last7=Schiermeier|first7=Quirin|last8=Tollefson|first8=Jeff|last9=Witze|first9=Alexandra|title=Nature's 10: Ten people who mattered in science in 2019|journal=Nature|volume=576|issue=7787|year=2019|pages=361–372|issn=0028-0836|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-03749-0|pmid=31848484|doi-access=free}}
2021: Bakerian Medal of the Royal Society{{cite web|title=Bakerian Medal and Lecture winner 2021|url=https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/awards/bakerian-lecture/|access-date=5 August 2020|publisher=Royal Society}}
2021: Shaw Prize[https://www.shawprize.org/laureates/astronomy Shaw Prize 2021]

Personal life

Kaspi is Jewish.{{cite news|first=Janice|last=Arnold|title=Jewish McGill Prof First Woman to Win Coveted Gerhard Herzberg Medal|date=6 June 2016|newspaper=Canadian Jewish News|url=http://www.cjnews.com/news/canada/mcgill-prof-uncomfortable-celebrity-status}} Her husband, David Langleben, is a cardiologist at McGill and at the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital in Montreal.