Dale A. Frail is a Canadian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

working at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) in Socorro,

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Early life

He was born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, spent much of his childhood in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, and his professional career has been based in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Career

Frail received his university education in Canada: first an undergraduate degree in

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

from

Acadia University Acadia University is a public, predominantly Undergraduate education, undergraduate university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada, with some Postgraduate education, graduate programs at the master's level and one at the Doctorate, doctor ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

, followed by MSc and PhD degrees in

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

from the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. In 1989 he moved to the United States as an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow. After completing a prized Jansky Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1993, he joined the research staff of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory, where he remains today. He is the author of over 250 peer-reviewed research papers, including more than 30 articles in the prestigious journal

Nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...

. He has made contributions to numerous sub-fields of astrophysics including multi-wavelength

electromagnetic In physics, electromagnetism is an interaction that occurs between particles with electric charge via electromagnetic fields. The electromagnetic force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It is the dominant force in the interacti ...

counterparts of gravitational-wave events, gamma-ray bursts, extrasolar planets, soft gamma-ray repeaters, the

interstellar medium The interstellar medium (ISM) is the matter and radiation that exists in the outer space, space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, as well as cosmic dust, dust and cosmic rays. It f ...

, pulsars, masers, and supernova remnants. To the public he is best known for discoveries in extrasolar planets and gamma-ray bursts. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, he was awarded a

Guggenheim fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

. From August 2011 through September 2015, he was NRAO's Assistant Director for the Karl G. Jansky

Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory in the southwestern United States built in the 1970s. It lies in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena, Ne ...

and the Very Long Baseline Array, and site director for New Mexico operations. In 2016, he received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from

Key discoveries

In early 1992, Frail and Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan announced their discovery of the existence of two planets and a possible third around the pulsar PSR B1257+12. Their discovery was confirmed in mid-1992. In addition to being the first confirmed discovery of pulsar planets, the find is also generally considered to be the first confirmed discovery of extrasolar planets of any kind. Beginning in 1997, Frail was part of a

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private university, private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small g ...

-NRAO team that helped unravel the long-standing mystery of the origin of gamma-ray bursts. They used an optical spectrum taken with the Keck Telescope toward the optical afterglow of GRB 970508 to establish that gamma-ray bursts were at cosmological distances. They then used the

radio telescope A radio telescope is a specialized antenna (radio), antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the r ...

discovery of radio afterglow emission from this same burst to measure the object's size and infer that the source was expanding relativistically. These two observations have remained cornerstones in the cosmological fireball model for gamma-ray bursts. In 2009 Thomson ISI listed Frail as the third-most cited researcher in the field of gamma-ray bursts over the period from 1999 to February 2009.http://archive.sciencewatch.com/ana/st/gamma/authors/ Special Topics Analysis of Gamma-ray Burst (GRB) Research There are many popular science accounts of the discovery of extra-solar planets as well as those of gamma-ray bursts and their afterglows. Links to a few of these and other relevant articles can be found below.

References

External links

Dale Frail's home page
*
''Flash! The Hunt for the Biggest Explosions in the Universe''PBS Nova Episode ''Death Star''Thomson ISI Special Topics interview
*[http://www.dchieftain.com/opinion/editorials/time-machine-peers-back-billion-years/article_5bf021a1-9457-5262-bf47-2ed966e46a36.html El Defensor Chieftain/Albuquerque Journal, '' 'Time Machine' Peers Back 13 Billion Years'', November 4, 2009]
A radio counterpart to a neutron star merger, Science Magazine, December 22, 2017
{{DEFAULTSORT:Frail, Dale 20th-century Canadian astronomers Discoverers of exoplanets Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian expatriates in the United States Living people Acadia University alumni University of Toronto alumni Place of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian astronomers