Anna Louise Watts is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. She studies neutron stars and their thermonuclear explosions.[1][3]
Anna Watts | |
|---|---|
| Born | Anna Louise Watts |
| Education | Bradford Girls' Grammar School |
| Alma mater | University of Oxford (BA) University of Southampton (PhD) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astronomy Neutron stars Physics[1] |
| Institutions | University of Amsterdam Goddard Space Flight Center Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics Ministry of Defence |
| Thesis | The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars (2003) |
| Doctoral advisor | Nils Andersson[2] |
| Website | staff |
Education edit
Watts was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School.[4] She studied physics at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class degree from the University of Oxford in 1995.[5] She entered the science stream at the Ministry of Defence on a graduate scheme, where she worked for five years.[5] Watts completed her PhD[2] in physics supervised by Nils Andersson (physicist) in the general relativity group researching neutron stars.[5][6]
Career and research edit
After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center.[6][7] She then received a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.[6][8] In 2008 Watts joined the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy.[4]
Watts looks to understand the physics behind the violent dynamic events that occur on neutron stars. These include magnetic flares, thermonuclear explosions, and starquakes.[9] Her research lies at the intersection of theoretical physics and astrophysics. Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes.[10] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions.[11]
She is involved in the development future high-energy space telescopes.[9] Watts is part of the science team for the NASA probe Strobe-X.[12] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group.[13][14] She is also chair of Network 3 for NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy.[15] She served on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology committee.[16] Watts has contributed to Times Higher Education and Vice.[17][18]
References edit
- ^ a b Anna Watts publications indexed by Google Scholar
- ^ a b Watts, Anna Louise (2003). The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars. soton.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Southampton. OCLC 500094585. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.432636.
- ^ Turolla, R; Zane, S; Watts, A L (2015). "Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (11): 116901. arXiv:1507.02924. Bibcode:2015RPPh...78k6901T. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/11/116901. ISSN 0034-4885. PMID 26473534. S2CID 15317167.
- ^ a b Wijngaarden, Evert Rol, Martin Heemskerk, David Hendriks, Timo Halbesma, Marcella. "API - Alumni - Dr. Anna Watts". api-alumni.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ a b c Woods, Karen. "Dr Anna Watts" (PDF). University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ a b c "Anna Watts, Mathematical Sciences". southampton.ac.uk. University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "NASA - NASA Sees Hidden Structure of Neutron Star in Starquake". nasa.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ a b Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "dr. A.L. (Anna) Watts - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "ERC Starting Grants awarded to Faculty of Science researchers - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "The STROBE-X Team". nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "WG4 - Observatory Science". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "WG1 - Dense Matter". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "72nd Netherlands Astronomy Conference". astronomenclub.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "COST | The multi-messenger physics and astrophysics of neutron stars - Management Committee". cost.eu. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson". Times Higher Education (THE). 8 June 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
- ^ "For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare". Broadly. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
