Emma Olivia Chapman (née Woodfield) is a British physicist and

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 ...

Dorothy Hodgkin

Research Fellow A research fellow is an academic research position at a university or a similar research institution, usually for academic staff or faculty members. A research fellow may act either as an independent investigator or under the supervision of a p ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

. Her research investigates the

epoch In chronology and periodization, an epoch or reference epoch is an instant in time chosen as the origin of a particular calendar era. The "epoch" serves as a reference point from which time is measured. The moment of epoch is usually decided b ...

reionization In the fields of Big Bang theory and physical cosmology, cosmology, reionization is the process that caused electrically neutral atoms in the primordial universe to reionize after the lapse of the "Timeline of the Big Bang#Dark Ages, dark ages". ...

. She won the 2018

Athena Prize. In November 2020 Chapman published her first book, ''First Light: Switching on Stars at the Dawn of Time''.

Early life and education

Chapman achieved first class honours for a Master of Physics (MPhys) degree in Physics at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

in 2010. She completed her PhD, ''Seeing the Light: Foreground Removal in the Dark and Dim Ages'', 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 ...

. She won the

Chris Skinner Department of Physics and Astronomy Thesis Prize. Chapman became concerned about PhD culture and how it impacts women.

Research and career

Following her PhD, Chapman remained at

as a

Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental organisation, intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square ...

funded

postdoctoral researcher 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 ...

. Chapman was awarded a

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 ...

Research Fellowship in 2013. She won 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 ...

Early Career Woman Physicist of the Year Award in 2014. In 2018, Chapman was awarded a Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship by the Royal Society. Her research investigates the Epoch of Reionisation, the time in the universe when the stars began to radiate light. Chapman works with the Low-Frequency Array telescope (

LOFAR LOFAR may refer to: * Low-Frequency Array, a large radio telescope system based in the Netherlands * Low Frequency Analyzer and Recorder and Low Frequency Analysis and Recording, for low-frequency sounds {{disambiguation ...

). In 2017 Chapman was highly commended in the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Awards. She was an invited speaker at the Cheltenham Science Festival. She spoke about the first era of stars at the 2018 ''

New Scientist ''New Scientist'' is a popular science magazine covering all aspects of science and technology. Based in London, it publishes weekly English-language editions in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. An editorially separate organ ...

'' Live. Chapman brought a successful lawsuit against

for sexual harassment through the law firm of Ann Olivarius. She settled the case for £70,000 and then campaigned against the use of gag-orders or " non-disclosure settlements." As a result of her campaign, University College of London has abandoned non-disclosure settlements.

The 1752 group

She has spoken about bias in science at the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

, Wellcome Collection and on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Chapman is a member of The 1752 Group, a lobbying group to end staff-student

sexual harassment Sexual harassment is a type of harassment based on the sex or gender of a victim. It can involve offensive sexist or sexual behavior, verbal or physical actions, up to bribery, coercion, and assault. Harassment may be explicit or implicit, wit ...

in academia. She was a keynote speaker on the topic at the

International Union of Pure and Applied Physics The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP; ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...

(IUPAP) International Conference for Women in Physics. She partnered with the National Union of Students (NUS) to conduct a survey of staff-student sexual harassment. They found that there was widespread misconduct in higher education and that institutions did not adequately support the victims.

Publications

Chapman is author of one book: *

Awards and honours

In 2018, Chapman was awarded the

Athena Prize for her work to end staff-student sexual harassment and bullying in academia.

Personal life

Chapman had her first child during the last year of her PhD. She has two children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chapman, Emma Year of birth missing (living people) British women astrophysicists British astrophysicists 21st-century British astronomers Academics of Imperial College London Alumni of University College London Living people 21st-century British physicists 21st-century British women scientists Alumni of Josephine Butler College, Durham