Heather A. Knutson

Heather A. Knutson is an astrophysicist and assistant professor at California Institute of Technology in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences.[1] Her research is focused on the study of exoplanets, their composition and formation. She won the American Astronomical Society's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy for her work in exoplanetary atmospheres.[2]

Popular Science calls her “the first exoplanet meteorologist, determining the local temperature, weather, and even composition of the atmosphere”.[3]

Academic career

As an undergraduate in the physics department of Johns Hopkins University, Heather worked part-time as an intern with the Space Telescope Science Institute. In 2004, she graduated with a B.S. in physics with both departmental and university honors.[4]

She defended her Ph.D. thesis in 2009,[5] and obtained the title of Doctor of Philosophy in astronomy from Harvard University in 2009.[6] Her most recent discovery is that approximately half of the systems harboring gas giant planets have distant massive companions orbiting them,[7] a result that further supports the idea of planetary migration in the formation of hot Jupiters.

Awards

References

  1. http://www.gps.caltech.edu: Heather A. Knutson | www.gps.caltech.edu, accessdate: June 15, 2016
  2. American Astronomical Society: Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy | American Astronomical Society, accessdate: June 15, 2016
  3. Popular Science: How Heather Knutson Reads The Weather On Exoplanets | Popular Science, accessdate: June 15, 2016
  4. "Short Bio". web.gps.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  5. Knutson, Heather Ann (2009-01-01). "Portraits of distant worlds: Characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets". United States -- Massachusetts: Harvard University.
  6. "Short Bio". web.gps.caltech.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  7. Knutson, Heather A.; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Montet, Benjamin T.; Kao, Melodie; Ngo, Henry; Howard, Andrew W.; Crepp, Justin R.; Hinkley, Sasha; Bakos, Gaspar ? (2014-01-01). "Friends of Hot Jupiters. I. A Radial Velocity Search for Massive, Long-period Companions to Close-in Gas Giant Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 785 (2): 126. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/785/2/126. ISSN 0004-637X.
  8. "Knutson Receives AAS Award for Outstanding Research | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  9. "Caltech Professors Awarded 2015 Sloan Fellowships | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  10. "Heather Knutson Wins Astronomy Award | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  11. "Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy to Heather A. Knutson, Astronomy PhD '09". astronomy.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2016-06-15.
  12. "Heather A. Knutson curriculum vitae" (PDF).

External links

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