Andrew Christopher Fabian (born 20 February 1948) is a British astronomer and astrophysicist. He was Director of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2018. He was a Royal Society Research Professor at the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge from 1982 to 2013, and Vice-Master of Darwin College, Cambridge from 1997 to 2012. He served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society from May 2008 through to 2010.[6]

Andrew Fabian
86th President of the Royal Astronomical Society
In office
2008–2010
Preceded byMichael Rowan-Robinson
Succeeded byRoger Davies
Personal details
Born
Andrew Christopher Fabian

(1948-02-20) 20 February 1948 (age 76)[1]
NationalityBritish
Spouse
(m. 1991)
[2]
Websitewww.csap.cam.ac.uk/network/andrew-fabian
EducationDaventry Grammar school[1]
Alma materKing's College London (BSc)
University College, London (PhD)
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsInstitute of Astronomy, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
ThesisThe small scale isotropy of the cosmic X-ray background (1972)
Doctoral advisorPeter W. Sanford[3]
Doctoral students

Education

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Fabian was educated at King's College London (BSc, Physics) and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College London (PhD).[7]

Career and research

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Fabian was Gresham Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, a position in which he delivered free public lectures within the City of London between 1982 and 1984.[8] He was editor-in-chief of the astronomy journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1994–2008.[9]

His areas of research include galaxy clusters, active galactic nuclei, strong gravity, black holes and the X-ray background. He has also worked on X-ray binaries, neutron stars and supernova remnants in the past. Much of his research involves X-ray astronomy and high energy astrophysics. His notable achievements include his involvement in the discovery of broad iron lines emitted from active galactic nuclei, for which he was jointly awarded the Bruno Rossi Prize. He is author of over 1000 refereed articles[10] and head of the X-ray astronomy group at the Institute of Astronomy.[11]

Awards and honours

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Fabian was awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics by the American Astronomical Society in 2008, the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2012,[12] and the Kavli Prize for Astrophysics in 2020.[13]

In 2016 he was elected as a foreign associate of the National Academy of Sciences[14] and awarded the Bruce Gold Medal by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.[15]

In August 2020 Fabian was a guest on the BBC Radio 4 programme 'The Life Scientific'.[16]

References

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  1. ^ a b Anon (2017). "Fabian, Prof. Andrew Christopher". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U15353. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ Anon (2017). "Crawford, Prof. Carolin Susan". Who's Who (online Oxford University Press ed.). Oxford: A & C Black. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U258623. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b Andrew Fabian at the Mathematics Genealogy Project
  4. ^ Crawford, Carolin Susan (1988). The detection of distant cooling flows. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 53538712. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.293490. Archived from the original on 9 November 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  5. ^ "Andrew Christopher Fabian". AstroGen. American Astronomical Society. Retrieved 9 November 2024.
  6. ^ RAS press release Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ Fabian, Andrew Christopher. The small-scale isotropy of the cosmic X-ray background. mssl.ucl.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University College London. OCLC 926326493. Copac 18982917.
  8. ^ List of Astronomy Professors on the Gresham College website
  9. ^ Carswell, Bob; Clube, Kim (2008). "Monthly Notices of the RAS". Astronomy & Geophysics. 49 (5): 14. Bibcode:2008A&G....49e..14C. doi:10.1111/j.1468-4004.2008.49514.x.
  10. ^ ADS, last run 16 July 2015
  11. ^ Institute of Astronomy X-ray Group
  12. ^ "RAS honours leading astronomers and geophysicists". Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 17 February 2012.
  13. ^ "2020 Kavli Prize in Astrophysics". www.kavliprize.org. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
  14. ^ National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected, News from the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, 3 May 2016, archived from the original on 6 May 2016, retrieved 14 May 2016
  15. ^ "Past Recipients of the Catherine Wolfe Bruce Gold Medal". Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Archived from the original on 23 November 2015. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
  16. ^ "BBC Radio 4 – The Life Scientific, Andy Fabian on black holes". BBC. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
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