Dame Carole Jordan, (born 19 July 1941), is a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

, astrophysicist,

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 ...

and academic. Currently, she is Professor Emeritus of

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 ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and Emeritus Fellow at

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...

. From 1994 to 1996, she was President of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

; she was the first woman to hold this appointment. She won the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

in 2005; she was only the third female recipient following Caroline Herschel in 1828 and Vera Rubin in 1996. She was head of the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics at the

from 2003 to 2004 and 2005 to 2008, and was one of the first female professors in Astronomy in Britain. She was made a

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 2006 for services to physics and astronomy.

Education

Carole Jordan was educated at Harrow County Grammar School for Girls and at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(BSc 1962; PhD 1965). Her first paper, written while she was still an undergraduate, was on the distortion of lunar craters. Her PhD studies under C. W. Allen opened up a new field in atomic physics and included identification of iron and other lines in the solar extreme ultra-violet

spectrum A spectrum (: spectra or spectrums) is a set of related ideas, objects, or properties whose features overlap such that they blend to form a continuum. The word ''spectrum'' was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of co ...

and the

ZETA Zeta (, ; uppercase Ζ, lowercase ζ; , , classical or ''zē̂ta''; ''zíta'') is the sixth letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of 7. It was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, Phoenician letter zay ...

experiment, early ionisation-balance calculations, development of density-diagnostic methods using the iron lines, calculation of relative element abundances and modelling from emission-measure distributions.Account of presentation of Gold medal: Her first paper on coronal research, ''"The Relative Abundance of Silicon Iron and Nickel in the Solar Corona"'' was published in 1965.

Scientific work

Jordan calculated the ionisation balance of elements, including the effects of density-dependent di-electronic recombination, level populations in ions, and combined this with observational results from the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

and stars. As a result of her work on the

Skylab Skylab was the United States' first space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three trios of astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Skylab was constructe ...

ultraviolet spectra the understanding of He-like ions was further developed. This had implications for the development of applications, like

X-ray laser An X-ray laser can be created by several methods either in hot, dense plasmas or as a free-electron laser in an accelerator. This article describes the x-ray lasers in plasmas, only. The plasma x-ray lasers rely on stimulated emission to gener ...

s. The electron density diagnostics, and temperature density diagnostics, when combined with the emission measure analysis developed by her yielded new insights in the

chromosphere A chromosphere ("sphere of color", from the Ancient Greek words χρῶμα (''khrôma'') 'color' and σφαῖρα (''sphaîra'') 'sphere') is the second layer of a Stellar atmosphere, star's atmosphere, located above the photosphere and below t ...

s of cool stars,

T Tauri Star T Tauri stars (TTS) are a class of variable stars that are less than about ten million years old. This class is named after the prototype, T Tauri, a young star in the Taurus Molecular Cloud, Taurus star-forming region. They are found near mo ...

s, and the

, to name a few. The 1970 solar eclipse allowed her the identification of previously unknown forbidden lines in the Sun. Following the launch of the ''

International Ultraviolet Explorer International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE or Explorer 57, formerly SAS-D) was the first Space telescope, space observatory primarily designed to take ultraviolet (UV) electromagnetic spectrum. The satellite was a collaborative project between NA ...

'' satellite in 1978, she turned her attention to

stellar corona In astronomy, a corona (: coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's Stellar atmosphere, atmosphere. It is a hot but relatively luminosity, dim region of Plasma (physics), plasma populated by intermittent coronal structures such as so ...

and chromospheric activity. Her knowledge of solar activity enabled her to help develop this new branch of astrophysics and identify many elements in stellar spectra as well. Since about 1980, she has been a key member of nearly every team, in the UK, Europe and the US, concerned with the development and use of instruments for the studies of ultra-violet and

x-ray An X-ray (also known in many languages as Röntgen radiation) is a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than those of ultraviolet rays and longer than those of gamma rays. Roughly, X-rays have a wavelength ran ...

spectra of the Sun and of the stars.

Career

* Research associate, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1966. * Assistant Lecturer, Department of Astronomy, UCL, attached to the Spectroscopy Division of UKAEA Culham Laboratory, 1966–69 :During this time, she completed her ionisation-balance calculations and the identification of some forbidden lines and satellite lines. In 1969, she started to devise methods to obtain the structure of the

solar transition region The solar transition region is a region of the Sun's atmosphere between the upper chromosphere and corona. It is important because it is the site of several unrelated but important transitions in the physics of the solar atmosphere: * Below, gr ...

. * Astrophysics Research Unit, Culham Laboratory: ** Post-doctoral research assistant, 1969–71 ** Senior Scientific Officer, 1971–73 ** Principal Scientific Officer, 1973–76 * Wolfson Tutorial Fellow in Natural Science,

, 1976 - *

: reader in physics, 1994–96, professor of physics 1996-, head of the

Rudolf Peierls Sir Rudolf Ernst Peierls, (; ; 5 June 1907 – 19 September 1995) was a German-born British physicist who played a major role in Tube Alloys, Britain's nuclear weapon programme, as well as the subsequent Manhattan Project, the combined Allied ...

Centre for Theoretical Physics, 2003–2008, emeritus professor 2008 -. She has published papers on astrophysical plasma spectroscopy and structure and energy balance in cool star coronae. Dame Carole Jordan has her picture displayed with the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: * National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra * National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London ...

as a recognition for her career achievements.

Affiliations

* Royal Astronomical Society: Fellow, 1966; secretary, 1981–90; vice-president, 1990–91 and 1996–97; president, 1994–96. * Member of the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

, 1967 * Editor of '' The Observatory'', 1968–73 * Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

, 1973 * Fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

, 1990 * Doctor of the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

, 1991 * Member of the

Science and Engineering Research Council The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) and its predecessor the Science Research Council (SRC) were the UK agencies in charge of publicly funded scientific and engineering research activities, including astronomy, biotechnology and bi ...

, 1985-90 (Chairman, Solar System Committee, 1983–86; Member, Astronomy, Space and Radio Board, 1979–86; Member, Astronomy and Planetary Science Board, 1986–90) * Member of the

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office w ...

, 1994–97

Damehood

Carole Jordan was created a

(DBE) on 17 June 2006.

References

External links

Personal page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jordan, Carole 1941 births Living people British women astronomers British women physicists Alumni of University College London Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Female fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Institute of Physics Honorary Fellows of the Institute of Physics Academics of University College London Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of Somerville College, Oxford Academics of the University of Oxford Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the Royal Society 20th-century British astronomers 21st-century British astronomers 20th-century British women scientists 21st-century British women scientists