Duncan Ross Lorimer (born 1969) is a British-born American astrophysicist. He is a professor of physics and astronomy at

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Ins ...

, known for the discovery of the first

fast radio burst In radio astronomy, a fast radio burst (FRB) is a transient radio wave of length ranging from a fraction of a millisecond, for an ultra-fast radio burst, to 3 seconds, caused by a high-energy astrophysical process as yet not understood. Astronome ...

in 2007.

Education

Lorimer was educated at

Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, or QE as it is commonly known, is a sixth form college on Vane Terrace in Darlington, County Durham, England. It educates nearly 2000 students from Darlington and the surrounding areas with students coming fro ...

and

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

College at

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

where he studied

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 ...

. He received his MSc and

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the University of Manchester in 1991 and 1994, respectively, for research carried out at

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio as ...

supervised by Andrew Lyne, Dick Manchester and Matthew Bailes.

Career and research

Lorimer held appointments at University of Manchester (Lecturer, 1994–1995); the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

, 1995–1998); Cornell University (postdoctoral Fellow, 1998–2001); University of Manchester (

Royal Society University Research Fellow __NOTOC__ The Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF) is a research fellowship awarded to outstanding early career scientists in the United Kingdom who are judged by the Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society ...

, 2001–2006) and West Virginia University (Faculty, 2006–present). The first fast radio burst was discovered in 2007 when Lorimer assigned his student David Narkevic at

to look through archival data taken in 2001 by the Parkes radio dish in Australia. Analysis of the survey data found a 30-

jansky The jansky (symbol Jy, plural ''janskys'') is a non- SI unit of spectral flux density, or spectral irradiance, used especially in radio astronomy. It is equivalent to 10−26 watts per square metre per hertz. The ''spectral flux density'' ...

dispersed burst which occurred on July 24, 2001, less than 5 milliseconds in duration, located 3° from the

Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D25 isophotal diameter of about , and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 bill ...

. The burst became known as the Lorimer Burst or FRB 010724.

Awards and honours

In 2023, he was awarded the

Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is a set of three annual awards presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation in the fields of astronomy, medicine and life sciences, and mathematical sciences. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, by Hong Kong entertainment mogul and p ...

in Astronomy. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in 2024.https://royalsociety.org/news/2024/05/new-fellows-2024/

Personal life

Lorimer's wife Maura McLaughlin is also a professor at

. They have three children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lorimer American astrophysicists 1969 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society Alumni of the University of Wales Alumni of the University of Manchester West Virginia University faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society