Australian Lands Top Job in Astronomy
CSIRO astronomer, Professor Ron Ekers, today became President of the world's largest professional body for astronomers, the International Astronomical Union (IAU).
"He is a leader in radio astronomy, a very active forceful person who will establish important collaborations across the various continents to the benefit of the Union and of the various astronomical communities in the world," said outgoing President of the IAU, Professor Franco Pacini.
Professor Ekers was appointed President-elect of the IAU at the last General Assembly, held in Manchester, England in 2000, to take effect from July 2003.
"It will be important for the IAU to adapt to the rapidly changing global research environment," said Professor Ekers at the General Assembly this week. His term will run until 2006.
"He has played a key role in fostering the careers of a whole generation of Australian scientists. In addition to this, he has created an internationally competitive radio observatory," added Chair of the Academy of Science's National Committee for Astronomy (NCA), Professor Rachel Webster.
The IAU was founded in 1919. It is the internationally recognised authority overseeing the science of astronomy. Its individual members are professional astronomers all over the World, at PhD level or beyond, and active in professional research and education in astronomy.
The IAU has more than 8000 members from 66 adhering countries.
Professor Ekers was appointed Foundation Director of the CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) in 1988. He was born in Victor Harbour, South Australia, and graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1963. He gained his PhD in astronomy at the Australian National University (ANU) in 1967.
His professional career has taken him to the California Institute of Technology, USA; the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy in Cambridge, UK; the Kapteyn Laboratory in Groningen, the Netherlands; and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory in New Mexico, USA. He was also director of the VLA (Very Large Array), the largest radio telescope in the USA, from 1980 to 1987.
He has been a member of various advisory and visiting committees in the USA, UK, Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. He was Chairman of the International Union of Radio Science Commission on Radio Astronomy from 1990-1993, Pawsey Lecturer during 1990, Oort Professor (Leiden) in 1997, and in 2001 was Miller Professor (Berkeley).
In 1992 he was a member of the Australian Science and Technology Council Working Party on Major National Research Facilities.
He is a member of the NCA and an Adjunct Professor at ANU. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and Foreign Member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Science in 1993. In 2003 he was elected to the prestigious American Philosophical Society and is the only living Australian member. Professor Ekers' research interests include extragalactic astronomy, especially cosmology, and galactic nuclei, radio astronomical techniques and Image Formation Theory.
Acclaimed astronomer Professor Brian Boyle, Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory, will take over Professor Ekers' position as Director of the ATNF.
Images   rofessor Ron Ekers |
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