Peter Tuthill (astronomer)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Peter G. Tuthill (born 18 Jan 1967) is an Australian
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 ...
who has pioneered the science of high-angular resolution astronomy, leading the development of aperture masking interferometry and astronomical optical interferometry. He is a professor of astrophysics at the School of Physics at the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
and was Director of the Sydney Institute for Astronomy (SIfA) of School from 2010 to 2015.


Early life and education

Tuthill was born in Sydney in 1967, and grew up in
Warwick, Queensland Warwick ( ) is a rural town and Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in southeast Queensland, Australia, lying south-west of Brisbane. It is the administrative centre of the Southern Downs Region Local government in Australia, local go ...
. He attended the
University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a Public university, public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone ...
for an undergraduate degree in physics and ANU for Honours, before a PhD at
Churchill College, Cambridge Churchill College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. It has a primary focus on science, engineering and technology, but retains a strong interest in the arts ...
on the
Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope COAST, the Cambridge Optical Aperture Synthesis Telescope, is a multi-element optical astronomical interferometer with baselines of up to 100 metres, which uses aperture synthesis to observe stars with angular resolution as high as one thousand ...
. He won a Lindemann Trust Fellowship to do postdoctoral research at the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
under
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
Charles H. Townes, working on the Keck Aperture Masking Experiment. He returned to Australia to the
University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...
, holding a succession of Fellowships: the U2000 Postdoctoral Fellowship (1999), ARC Australian Research Fellowship (2002), ARC QE II Research Fellowship (2007), and the ARC Future Fellowship (2010).


Wolf-Rayet Stars

Using the Keck Aperture Masking Experiment, Tuthill for the first time revealed
pinwheel nebula Pinwheel may refer to: * Pinwheel (toy), a spinning children's toy * Pinwheel (cryptography), a device for producing a short pseudo-random sequence of bits * Pinwheel (shogi), an opening in the game shogi or Japanese chess * Pinwheel (TV channel ...
e around Wolf–Rayet stars, formed by winds colliding with their binary companions. The most spectacular of these have been conjectured as
gamma-ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are extremely energetic events occurring in distant Galaxy, galaxies which represent the brightest and most powerful class of explosion in the universe. These extreme Electromagnetic radiation, ele ...
progenitors in the Milky Way: WR 104 and the only known Galactic Wolf-Rayet binary
Apep Apophis (; ), also known as Apep () or Aphoph (, ) Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Re ...
.


Sydney University Stellar Interferometer

Tuthill directed the
Sydney University Stellar Interferometer The Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) was an optical long baseline interferometer owned by The University of Sydney. It was located in the Paul Wild Observatory, 20 km west of Narrabri town in New South Wales, Australia. SUSI w ...
(SUSI) at
Narrabri, New South Wales Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. ...
from 2006 until its closure in 2017.


TOLIMAN Space Telescope

Tuthill is the director of the proposed TOLIMAN Space Telescope, funded by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation to search for planets around
alpha Centauri Alpha Centauri (, α Cen, or Alpha Cen) is a star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus (constellation), Centaurus. It consists of three stars: Rigil Kentaurus (), Toliman (), and Proxima Centauri (). Proxima Centauri ...
AB by
astrometry Astrometry is a branch of astronomy that involves precise measurements of the positions and movements of stars and other Astronomical object, celestial bodies. It provides the kinematics and physical origin of the Solar System and this galaxy, th ...
.


Awards and honours

* Eureka Prize for Scientific Research, 2005 * 2014 CISRA/
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
Extreme Imaging Award, II jointly to Paul Stewart and Peter Tuthill * 2013 CISRA/
Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...
Extreme Imaging Award, jointly to Barnaby Norris and Peter Tuthill


See also

* Aperture Masking Interferometry *
Sydney University Stellar Interferometer The Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) was an optical long baseline interferometer owned by The University of Sydney. It was located in the Paul Wild Observatory, 20 km west of Narrabri town in New South Wales, Australia. SUSI w ...
* Wolf-Rayet Pinwheels:
Apep Apophis (; ), also known as Apep () or Aphoph (, ) Erman, Adolf, and Hermann Grapow, eds. 1926–1953. ''Wörterbuch der aegyptischen Sprache im Auftrage der deutschen Akademien''. 6 vols. Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlungen. (Re ...
, WR 104


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuthill, Peter 1967 births Living people Academic staff of the University of Sydney 21st-century Australian astronomers 21st-century Australian physicists 20th-century Australian astronomers Australian National University alumni University of Queensland alumni