Susan McKenna-Lawlor

Susan McKenna-Lawlor (born 3 March 1935) is an Irish astrophysicist. She is an emeritus professor of experimental physics at Maynooth University.

Susan McKenna-Lawlor
Born (1935-03-03) 3 March 1935
Dublin, Ireland
NationalityIrish
Alma materUniversity College Dublin
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary science, Experimental Physics
Websitehttps://www.maynoothuniversity.ie/people/susan-mckenna-lawlor

Early life and education

Susan was born in Dublin on 3 March 1935. She studied experimental physics at University College Dublin.[1] She was a research assistant at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies between 1957 and 1966.[2] A lecturer in St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, in 1986 she was appointed a professor in the Dept of Experimental Physics.[3]

Space Technology Ireland Ltd

In 1986 she founded the space instrumentation company Space Technology Ireland Ltd (STIL) with venture capitalist Dermot Desmond. STIL manufactures instruments for space missions and McKenna-Lawlor is the managing director. It was established on the south campus of St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.

Research and career

McKenna-Lawlor was the principal investigator for the experiment EPA (Energetic Particles) on the European Space Agency (ESA) Giotto mission.[4]

McKenna-Lawlor led an international team of scientists in building a particle detector capable of detecting energies between 30 kiloelectronvolts and several megaelectronvolts for the Soviet Union's Phobos spacecraft in 1988.[5] The success of the detector led Soviet scientists to ask her to contribute a similar device for their 1994 Mars mission.[6]

McKenna-Lawlor was Co-Investigator for the experiment RAPID on board the European Space Agency (ESA) Cluster mission.[7]

She developed instruments to monitor the solar wind on Mars for the ESA Mars Express mission.[8]

STIL designed the onboard Electrical Support System processor unit for the Rosetta spacecraft. McKenna-Lawlor also represented Ireland on the Steering Board of the Rosetta's Philae lander that touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.[1]

Awards and recognition

She was a winner of the Rehab People of the Year Award in 1986. She was elected to the International Academy of Astronautics and in 2005 she received an honorary DSc from the University of Ulster for her contributions to astrophysics.[9][10]

She was a member of the National University of Ireland Senate and of Maynooth University's Governing Authority.

Bibliography
  • McKenna-Lawlor, S. (1968). Astronomy in Ireland from 1780. Vistas in Astronomy.[11]
  • McKenna-Lawlor, S. (2003). Whatever Shines Should be Observed. Springer Netherlands. ISBN 978-94-017-0351-2.[12]

Susan McKenna-Lawlor has published or co-authored over 250 scientific papers.[13]

References
  1. O'Connell, Claire (17 January 2014). "Irish scientist's role in comet-chasing Rosetta mission". Silicon Republic.
  2. Grace, Anne. "McKenna-Lawlor Susan (Prof.) – DIAS". Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  3. Chapter X Appointments 1795 to date Kalendarium, St. Patrick's College, Maynooth.
  4. "ESA Science & Technology - Mission Team". sci.esa.int. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  5. McKenna-Lawlor, Susan M. P. (September 1989). "The SLED instrument on the PHOBOS Mission to Mars and its Moons". Irish Astronomical Journal. 19: 72. Bibcode:1989IrAJ...19...72M. ISSN 0021-1052.
  6. Henbest, Nigel (11 March 1989). "Probe reveals Mars may have radiation belts". New Scientist. 121: 34. Bibcode:1989NewSc.121...34H.
  7. Escoubet, C. P.; Russell, C. T.; Schmidt, R. (1997), Escoubet, C. P.; Russell, C. T.; Schmidt, R. (eds.), "Directory of Cluster Community Members (24 May, 1996)", The Cluster and Phoenix Missions, Springer Netherlands, pp. 639–658, doi:10.1007/978-94-011-5666-0_21, ISBN 978-94-011-5666-0
  8. Barabash, S.; Lundin, R.; Andersson, H.; Gimholt, J.; Holmström, M.; Norberg, O.; Yamauchi, M.; Asamura, K.; Coates, A. J.; Linder, D. R.; Kataria, D. O. (August 2004). "ASPERA-3: analyser of space plasmas and energetic ions for Mars Express". In Andrew Wilson; Agustin Chicarro (eds.). Mars Express: The Scientific Payload. Proceedings of the ESA Workshop on Aerospace EMC. Vol. 1240. ESA Publications Division. pp. 121–139. Bibcode:2004ESASP1240..121B. ISBN 92-9092-556-6. ISSN 1609-042X.
  9. "International Academy of Astronautics". iaaweb.org. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  10. "Honorary graduates". www.ulster.ac.uk. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
  11. McKenna, Susan M.P. (1968). "Astronomy in Ireland from 1780". Vistas in Astronomy. 9: 283–296. doi:10.1016/0083-6656(67)90036-0.
  12. McKenna-Lawlor, Susan M. P. (2003). Whatever Shines Should be Observed. Astrophysics and Space Science Library. Vol. 292. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. doi:10.1007/978-94-017-0351-2. ISBN 978-90-481-6343-4.
  13. "NASA/ADS". ui.adsabs.harvard.edu. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
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