Person
Webster, Rachel (1951 - )
AO FAA
- Born
- 3 July 1951
Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Astrophysicist
Summary
Rachel Webster is an international leader in the field of gravitational lensing and has developed a number of new techniques. She led the first all-sky survey for galaxies rich in neutral Hydrogen, and initiated and guided Australian participation in experiments to detect the first stars in the Universe, building a new low frequency radio telescope as a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). She is Chief Investigator at the University of Melbourne for the ARC Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Physics.
Details
"Rachel Webster is an astrophysicist and international leader in the field of gravitational lensing. She has developed a range of innovative applications, and discovered the first quasar microlensing event. Webster has used lensing to resolve the inner regions of quasars near black holes, providing international leadership in the development of new techniques. In addition, Webster led the first all-sky survey for galaxies rich in neutral Hydrogen, establishing the benchmark for these studies internationally. More recently, Webster initiated and guided Australian participation in experiments to detect the first stars in the Universe, building a new low frequency radio telescope as a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA)." [from https://www.science.org.au/profile/rachel-webster 21/12/2021]
Chronology
- 1975
- Education - Bachelor of Science (BSc(Hons)), Monash University
- 1980
- Education - Master of Science (MSc), University of Sussex, United Kingdom
- 1980
- Award - International Fellowship, American Association of University Women
- 1982
- Award - Amelia Earhart Fellowship, Zonta International
- 1985 - ?
- Career position - Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- 1985
- Education - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Cambridge
- 1988 -
- Career position - Member, American Astronomical Society
- 1988 -
- Career position - Member, International Astronomical Union
- 1997
- Career event - Inaugural Woman Lecturer in Physics, Australian Institute of Physics
- 2005
- Award - Caroline Herschel Invited Distinguished Lecture, Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A.
- 2007 -
- Award - Fellow, Australian Institute of Physics
- 2008 -
- Career position - Member, Royal Society of Victoria
- 2013 -
- Award - Robert Ellery Lectureship, Astronomical Society of Australia
- 2015 - 2016
- Career position - President, Academic Board, University of Melbourne
- 2016 -
- Career position - Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor, University of Melbourne
- 2016 -
- Award - Honorary Fellow, Astronomical Society of Australia
- 2016 - 2018
- Career position - Chair of the Board, Australian Astronomy Limited
- 2017 -
- Career position - Chair, Melbourne Digital Research Platforms Network
- 2018 -
- Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
- 2020
- Award - Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to education in the field of astrophysics, to astronomical research, and to young women scientists
Related entries
Published resources
Journal Articles
- Webster, Rachel, 'In conversation with Rachel Webster', Australian physics, 57 (5) (2020), 8-11. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q22915122. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/295320785. Details
- 'Rachel Webster - Citation at year of election, 2018', Fellows of the Academy, Australian Academy of Science, 2019, https://www.science.org.au/profile/rachel-webster. Details
Helen Cohn
Created: 29 January 2019, Last modified: 15 June 2022