Professor Martin Asplund (FAA) (born April 29, 1970) is a Swedish-Australian astrophysicist and a Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

. He has made credible and sometimes controversial contributions in the field of

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

. His models of the levels of the heavy elements, oxygen, carbon, neon and nitrogen in the solar spectrum have challenged scientific understanding of the sun and the rest of the cosmos.

Career

Asplund completed his PhD at

Uppsala University Uppsala University (UU) () is a public university, public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the List of universities in Sweden, oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation. Initially fou ...

in 1997 and became an assistant professor at the same university in 2001. He worked at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

from 2002 to 2007, where he was promoted to full professor. In 2007, he was appointed as Director of the

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) is a research institute located in Garching, just north of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It is one of many scientific research institutes belonging to the Max Planck Society. The MPA is widely consid ...

in 2007 and at the time was one of the youngest directors within the

Max Planck Society The Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science (; abbreviated MPG) is a formally independent non-governmental and non-profit association of German research institutes. Founded in 1911 as the Kaiser Wilhelm Society, it was renamed to the M ...

. From 2011 to 2020, he was employed at the

as a Laureate Fellowship recipient, the highest funding award from the

Australian Research Council The Australian Research Council (ARC) is the primary non-medical research funding agency of the Australian Government, distributing more than in grants each year. The Council was established by the ''Australian Research Council Act 2001'', ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asplund, Martin Living people 1970 births Australian astrophysicists Swedish emigrants to Australia Uppsala University alumni Academic staff of Uppsala University Max Planck Institute directors Academic staff of the Australian National University