Belinda Wilkes

Belinda Jane Wilkes is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, and former director of the Chandra X-ray Center.[1]

Belinda J. Wilkes
Wilkes in 2012
Born
Staffordshire, England
Alma materWolverhampton Girls' High School, University of St. Andrews, University of Cambridge
OccupationAstrophysicist

Education and career

She was born in Staffordshire, England and grew up in Albrighton, Shropshire, attending Wolverhampton Girls' High School before obtaining a BSc.(Hons) in Physics and Astronomy at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland followed by a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Cambridge, England. In 1982 she moved to the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory as a NATO postdoctoral fellow and in 1984 to SAO's High Energy Astrophysics Division, part of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.

Research

Her research relates to multi-wavelength studies of quasars: galaxies containing super-massive black holes at their centers and the most luminous sources in the Universe.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] She is the author of over 165 papers in refereed science journals and has served on a wide range of professional committees as well as various user and advisory committees and review boards for space and ground-based telescopes. She is a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and the Cambridge Philosophical Society, and a member of the International Astronomical Union.

Recognition

In 2018 she was elected an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge, her Alma Mater. In 2020 she was named a fellow of the American Physical Society "for significant contributions to the understanding of active galactic nuclei, including their emission mechanisms and evolutionary pathways, and for innovative leadership of the Chandra X-ray Observatory".[9] In 2021 she was named a fellow of the American Astronomical Society "For dedicated leadership of the astronomical community as director of the Chandra X-ray Center", and was named to the 2021 class of Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.[10]

See also

References
  1. "Dr. Belinda Wilkes Chosen to Lead the Chandra X-ray Center". Chandra.si.edu. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  2. Revealing the Universe: The Making of the Chandra X-ray Observatory By Wallace H. Tucker, Karen Tucker
  3. Reviews in Modern Astronomy, The Cosmic Circuit of Matter edited by Reinhard E. Schielicke
  4. Exploring the X-ray Universe By Frederick D. Seward
  5. NOAO Newsletter, Issues 69-72 The Observatories, 2002
  6. NOAO-NSO Newsletter, Issues 41-44 The Observatories, 1995
  7. National Optical Astronomy Observatories Newsletter, Issues 65-72
  8. BL Lac objects: proceedings of a workshop held in Como, Italy, September 20-23, 1988
  9. APS Fellow Archive, retrieved 6 November 2020
  10. 2021 Fellows, American Association for the Advancement of Science, retrieved 30 January 2022
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