Heather A. Knutson

Heather A. Knutson is an astrophysicist and professor at California Institute of Technology in the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences.[1] Her research is focused on the study of exoplanets, their composition and formation. She won the American Astronomical Society's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy for her work in exoplanetary atmospheres.[2]

Knutson in 2018, photo from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Popular Science calls her "the first exoplanet meteorologist, determining the local temperature, weather, and even composition of the atmosphere".[3]

Academic career
Knutson holds Jupiter over Bunsen burner; artistically altered image from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

As an undergraduate in the physics department of Johns Hopkins University, Knutson worked part-time as an intern with the Space Telescope Science Institute. In 2004, she graduated with a B.S. in physics with both departmental and university honors.[4]

She defended her Ph.D. thesis in 2009,[5] and obtained the title of Doctor of Philosophy in astronomy from Harvard University in 2009.[6] Her most recent discovery is that approximately half of the systems harboring gas giant planets have distant massive companions orbiting them,[7] a result that further supports the idea of planetary migration in the formation of hot Jupiters.

Awards

References
  1. http://www.gps.caltech.edu: Heather A. Knutson | www.gps.caltech.edu, accessdate: March 7, 2019
  2. American Astronomical Society: Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy | American Astronomical Society, accessdate: June 15, 2016
  3. Popular Science: How Heather Knutson Reads The Weather On Exoplanets | Popular Science, accessdate: June 15, 2016
  4. "Short Bio". web.gps.caltech.edu. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  5. Knutson, Heather Ann (January 1, 2009). "Portraits of distant worlds: Characterizing the atmospheres of extrasolar planets". United States -- Massachusetts: Harvard University. ProQuest 304892695. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. "Short Bio". web.gps.caltech.edu. Archived from the original on November 14, 2017. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  7. Knutson, Heather A.; Fulton, Benjamin J.; Montet, Benjamin T.; Kao, Melodie; Ngo, Henry; Howard, Andrew W.; Crepp, Justin R.; Hinkley, Sasha; Bakos, Gaspar ? (January 1, 2014). "Friends of Hot Jupiters. I. A Radial Velocity Search for Massive, Long-period Companions to Close-in Gas Giant Planets". The Astrophysical Journal. 785 (2): 126. arXiv:1312.2954. Bibcode:2014ApJ...785..126K. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/785/2/126. ISSN 0004-637X. S2CID 42687848.
  8. "President Donald J. Trump Announces Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers". whitehouse.gov. July 2, 2019. Retrieved August 3, 2019 – via National Archives.
  9. "Knutson Receives AAS Award for Outstanding Research | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. January 28, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  10. "Caltech Professors Awarded 2015 Sloan Fellowships | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. February 23, 2015. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  11. "Heather Knutson Wins Astronomy Award | Caltech". The California Institute of Technology. January 24, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  12. "Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy to Heather A. Knutson, Astronomy PhD '09". astronomy.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  13. "Heather A. Knutson curriculum vitae" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 22, 2017.
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