2010 PhD Wins John Philip Award

February 3rd, 2015

Former Jim Cordes student, Dr. Ryan Shannon, was awarded the 2014 John Philip Award for Excellence in Young Scientists on 10 October 2014. He received this award for research excellence in radio astronomy, in particular for demonstrating that observations of pulsars can be used to detect gravitational waves and study the formation of galaxies and black holes throughout the Universe.

Gravitational waves are travelling distortions in space-time predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity that have yet to be detected. Produced in exotic locations in the Universe, gravitational waves can potentially be used to study objects, such as black holes hidden in distant galaxies, invisible to conventional astronomical observations.

Dr. Shannon has developed novel new algorithms and analysis techniques to search for gravitational waves in observations of pulsars – compact stars that emit radio pulses and can be used as clocks. Using these techniques and data obtained from CSIRO’s Parkes radio telescope, Dr. Shannon set the most stringent limits on the existence of gravitational waves and demonstrated that the absence of gravitational waves can already be used to study black holes in distant galaxies.

Through this award, Dr. Shannon intends to strengthen existing and foster new collaborations between CSIRO and other international leaders in radio astronomy, with a particular emphasis on developing collaborations related to the Square Kilometer Array, the major, next-generation radio telescope that will be used to study the gravitational-wave Universe..

Read more about the CSIRO Awards.

Read article here:

http://www.csiro.au/Portals/About-CSIRO/Who-we-are/Staff/Awards/John-Philip-Award-recipient.aspx