Meg Urry

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Meg Urry
Meg Urry.jpg
Meg Urry speaking at Fermilab.
EducationTufts University, B.A. 1977
Johns Hopkins University, M.S. 1979
Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. 1984
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsYale University
Doctoral advisor

Claudia Megan Urry is an American astrophysicist, who has served as the President of the American Astronomical Society, as chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University, and as part of the Hubble Space Telescope faculty.[1] She is currently the Israel Munson Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Yale University and Director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics.[2] Urry is notable not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including work on black holes and multiwavelength surveys, but also for her work addressing sexism and gender equity in astronomy,[3] science, and academia more generally.

Early life and education[]

After growing up in Indiana and Massachusetts, Urry attended college at Tufts University, double-majoring in mathematics and physics,[4] graduating in 1977.[5] She became interested in astronomy during the summer of her junior year when she interned at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.[6]

Urry earned an M.S. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1984)[5] in physics from Johns Hopkins, where her advisor was .[4] For her dissertation, she studied blazars at Goddard Space Flight Center with Richard Mushotzky.[4]

Career[]

After finishing her Ph.D., Urry conducted a post-doctorate at M.I.T.'s Center for Space Research,[1] working with Claude Canizares.[4] This was followed by another post-doctorate at the Space Telescope Science Institute, after which, in 1990, the Institute hired her as a full-time astronomer.[6]

Urry joined Yale's faculty in 2001, at that time as the only woman in the department.[1] She served as Chair of the Yale Physics Department from 2007 to 2013.[4][7] From 2013 to 2017 she served in the Presidential line of the American Astronomical Society, from 2013-2014 as President-Elect, 2014-2016 as President, and 2016-2017 as Past President.[7][8] In 2020 she was named one of the American Astronomical Society's inaugural class of fellows.[9]

Urry has been active in addressing gender inequities in astronomy and science more generally, giving more than 60 talks on the topic,[5] including at the annual Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP). With Laura Danly, Urry co-organized the first meeting of in 1992.[4] This meeting produced the "Baltimore Charter," which was drafted by and eventually endorsed by the Council of the American Astronomical Society.[6][10] Reducing the prevalence of sexual harassment in astronomy was also an area of focus for Urry during the time she was President of the American Astronomical Society.[11][12]

Urry has published over 330 papers in refereed journals.[7] She studies supermassive black holes, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and the relationship of normal galaxies to AGNs. She and her research group participated in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to investigate the growth of supermassive black holes.[13]

Awards and honors[]

Further reading[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c Eileen Pollack, "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?", New York Times, Oct. 6, 2013.
  2. ^ "Meg Urry | Department of Physics". physics.yale.edu. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  3. ^ Urry, Meg (2010). "Women in (European) Astronomy". In Röser, Siegfried (ed.). Formation and Evolution of Cosmic Structures. Reviews in Modern Astronomy. Volume 21. Wiley-VCH. pp. 249–261. ISBN 9783527629206. |volume= has extra text (help)
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Karen Masters, "She's an Astronomer: Meg Urry", Galaxy Zoo (May 2, 2010)
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Meg Urry" Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine (faculty profile), Yale University
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Panek, Richard (March–April 2014). "Astronomy and gender politics". yalealumnimagazine.com. Retrieved 2021-08-11.CS1 maint: date format (link)
  7. ^ Jump up to: a b c "C. Megan Urry". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  8. ^ "AAS 2013 Election Results | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b Shelton, Jim (2020-03-05). "Basu, Fischer, Urry named inaugural AAS Fellows". YaleNews. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  10. ^ "Women in astronomy: Good news and ambiguous news". Christian Science Monitor. 2003-07-11. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  11. ^ Scoles, Sarah (2016-01-06). "Astronomers Are Finally Doing Something About Sexual Harassment". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  12. ^ Dreifus, Claudia (2016-11-28). "C. Megan Urry, Peering Into Universe, Spots Bias on the Ground". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-08-18.
  13. ^ "Charting the heavens like never before, via Sloan Digital Sky Survey". phys.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.
  14. ^ "National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected". Retrieved 2016-05-05.
  15. ^ "AAS Members Urry, Heckman Elected to National Academy of Sciences | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2021-08-11.

External links[]


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