Interviews with Researchers

Each issue ICRAR's eNewsletter contains an interview with one of its staff members or a visitor to ICRAR. Find out more about the working life of astronomers and engineers, interesting stories from around the world and hear behind-the-scenes details of some major astronomical discoveries.

Professor Peter Quinn

Director

Professor Quinn is not only ICRAR's director, but also a very influential, highly respected astronomer. He has worked on many large astronomical projects around the world, including the European Southern Observatory and the MACHO project here in Australia. Hear about his goals for ICRAR and his views on the SKA, as well as some of his favourite moments from his career.

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Professor Ken Freeman

Visitor, UWA Professor-at-large 2008-2010.  Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, The Australian National University (Mt Stromlo Observatory)

Professor Freeman was the 2009-2010 UWA Institute of Advanced Studies Professor-at-large and is Duffield Professor of Astronomy at the Australian National University (Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Mount Stromlo Observatory) in Canberra. He studied mathematics at UWA and theoretical astrophysics at the University of Cambridge, followed by a postdoctoral year at the University of Texas and a year as a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. He returned to Australia in 1967 as a Queen Elizabeth II Fellow at Mt Stromlo Observatory, and has been there ever since.

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Dr Phil Diamond

Visitor, CSIRO Chief, Astronomy and Space Science Division

Dr Phil Diamond holds a Bachelor of Science degree (majors in Physics and Astrophysics) from Leeds University, and a PhD in Radio Astronomy from Manchester University, both in the UK.  ICRAR was fortunate enough to host Dr Diamond for a six month sabbatical from October 2009. Read about his time at ICRAR and how he used high school physics to weigh a black hole!

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Professor Peter Hall

ICRAR Deputy Director, Engineering

Professor Peter Hall is Professor of Radio Astronomy Engineering at Curtin University and Co-Director of the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA). He received his PhD from the University of Tasmania and after academic roles at the University of Sydney, was attached to CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility.  His last role at CSIRO was as Leader of the organisation's inaugural SKA program and he was the author of the initial proposal to site the SKA in Australia.  Read about what tempted ICRAR's Deputy Director into radio astronomy engineering, and the role cheese sandwiches played in his career.  Professor Hall discusses the early days of the SKA project and ICRAR's success over the past year.

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Dr Minh Huynh

Research Associate Professor and Deputy International SKA Project Scientist

Dr Huynh is the Deputy International SKA Project Scientist. Working with the Project Scientist, Joe Lazio, and astronomers around the world, her job is to ensure that the goals of astronomers are met by the technical design of the SKA. Dr Huynh is essentially the interface between astronomers and engineers for the SKA project, and so spends a fair chunk of her time in Manchester, where the SKA Project Development Office is currently located. Over the next few years the SKA will move towards the pre-construction phase and so it becomes more crucial than ever that the aspirations of the astronomy community are balanced with the engineering design and cost of the telescope. Dr Huynh is also a cheerleader for the SKA, giving seminars about the SKA and keeping astronomers up to date with the SKA project.

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Professor Andreas Wicenec

ICT Program Head

Research Professor Andreas Wicenec is faced with the challenge of transmitting, storing and processing the data captured by the proposed arrays of antennas.An eight-hour survey of the sky can generate terabytes of data, which must then be sent to Perth via high capacity networks. Efficient, reliable storage systems are needed to ensure the data is protected and accessible. Andreas and his team must also design the processing systems needed to work with and make sense of the information.

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Dr James Miller-Jones

Research Fellow

Supermassive black holes change too slowly for us to observe, but their smaller cousins might provide some clues to their properties. Dr James Miller-Jones is studying the powerful jets of plasma launched by low-mass black holes within the Milky Way, aiming to understand how they work. He hopes this will provide new insights into the workings of supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. For James, who has been interested in astronomy since way back when, using giant radio telescopes and planning for the SKA pathfinders is all about discovery and solving the mysteries of the Universe.

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Professor Michael Garrett

General Director & Scientific Director ASTRON

Professor Michael Garrett was inspired into astronomy by his competitive nature, and his love of Star Trek's Captain Kirk. He brings that inspiration into his work on LOFAR and with the SKA, as well as Director of the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy, ASTRON. For Mike, radio astronomy is on the edge of some vast unchartered territory and we're about to leap right in and maybe discover something that will change our view of, well, everything! He says there's never been a better time to be involved. Professor Garrett visited ICRAR during the SKA-Low conference in September 2011.

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Dr Danail Obreschkow

Research Associate Professor

One of ICRAR's newest staff members, Dr Obreschkow brings his varied skills to his job here. From working on why galaxies are where they are in the Universe through to making bubbles in microgravity and seeing what happens. Inspired by the sight of Halley's comet to never give up his love of astronomy, Danail says he particularly likes the freedom to be creative that a life of research brings. He's even drawn on his interest in communication and education and created an iPhone app sharing the wonders of our Universe from the very small to the very large. 

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