Scott Tremaine

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Scott Duncan Tremaine (born 1950)[1][2] is a Canadian-born astrophysicist. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of London, the Royal Society of Canada and the National Academy of Sciences.[3] Tremaine is widely regarded as one of the world's leading astrophysicists[4][5] for his contributions to the theory of solar system and galactic dynamics.[6] Tremaine is the namesake of asteroid 3806 Tremaine.[7][8][9][10] He is credited with coining the name "Kuiper belt"[11]

Contents

[edit] Scientific accomplishments

Pandora and Prometheus shepherding Saturn's F ring, as predicted by Goldreich and Tremaine
Pandora and Prometheus shepherding Saturn's F ring, as predicted by Goldreich and Tremaine

Tremaine, along with Peter Goldreich, correctly predicted that shepherd moons created Saturn's thin F ring, as well as the thin rings of Uranus in 1979.[12][13][14] The Saturnian moons Prometheus and Pandora were first observed in 1981[15] and shepherding moons were found around Uranus' rings in 1986.[16] Tremaine cowrote the book Galactic Dynamics with James Binney, which is often regarded as the standard reference in the field[1][17][18][19][20] and has been cited more than three thousand times in scholarly publications.[21][22] Tremaine, along with collaborators at the University of Toronto, showed that short period comets originate in the Kuiper belt.[23][24] Tremaine is credited with suggesting that the apparent "double nucleus" of the Andromeda Galaxy was in fact a single ring of old red stars.[25]

[edit] Career

He obtained a bachelor's degree at McMaster University in 1971, and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1975.[26] He further received an honorary Ph.D. from McMaster University in 1996.[27] He was an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1981 to 1985.[28] He became the first director of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics at the University of Toronto in 1986, a position he held until 1996.[28] He gained the rare distinction of "University Professor" at the University of Toronto in 1995.[29] In 1997, he left CITA and took up a position as a professor at Princeton University.[1]

Scott Tremaine is currently a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study and chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University, a position he has held since 1998.[30][31] He has been married to Prof. Marilyn Mantei Tremaine for more than a decade, an expert in human-computer interaction who is the emeritus head of the SIGCHI section of the Association of Computing Machinery. [32]

[edit] Awards and honours

Tremaine was awarded the 1997 Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics for "diverse and insightful applications of dynamics to planets, rings, comets, galaxies and the universe."[16]

Tremaine won the C.S. Beals Award from the Canadian Astronomical Society which is awarded for outstanding research to a Canadian astronomer or an astronomer working in Canada.[33][34]

Tremaine won the 1983 Helen B. Warner Prize for Astronomy given by the American Astronomical Society in recognition of "his many outstanding contributions to a wide range of dynamical problems in both solar-system and galactic dynamics".[35][20]

Tremaine won the 1998 Dirk Brouwer Award which is awarded by the Division of Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society[36] "in recognition of his many outstanding contributions to a wide range of dynamical problems in both solar-system and galactic dynamics."[20]

Tremaine was awarded the 1990 Rutherford Memorial Medal in Physics by the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada for "his outstanding contributions to the field to [sic] astrophysics, particularly his spectacular success in predicting the properties of planetary ring dynamics and the extraplanetary objects that control them".[37]

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Scott Duncan Tremaine (1950- ). Virtual Museum of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  2. ^ Scott Duncan TREMAINE. Canadian Who's Who 1997 edition on the web. University of Toronto Press.
  3. ^ Tremaine Follows Bahcall's Stellar Path at the Institute. Town Topics. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  4. ^ The Institute Letter. Institute for Advanced Studies. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  5. ^ Bond awarded Dannie Heineman Prize. University of Toronto. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  6. ^ Canadian Asteroids. Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  7. ^ Asteroid 3806 named after eminent Canadian astrophysicist. Discovery Channel. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  8. ^ Look, up in the Sky. University of Toronto. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  9. ^ McMaster Times - Spring 1997. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  10. ^ Asteroids (minor planets) related to UofT people. Retrieved on 2007-05-28.
  11. ^ John Davies (2001). Beyond Pluto: Exploring the outer limits of the solar system. Cambridge University Press, 191. 
  12. ^ NASA/JPL/Ron Baalke. Historical Background of Saturn's Rings. Calvin J. Hamilton. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  13. ^ Chaos Seen in Movement of Ring-Herding Moons of Saturn. NASA/JPL. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  14. ^ New Clues Emerge in Mystery of Planetary Rings. New York Times (1989-06-27). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  15. ^ Frequently Asked Questions About Saturn's Rings. NASA. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  16. ^ a b Cosmologist Scott Tremaine receives two honors. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  17. ^ UofT Asteroids. University of Toronto. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  18. ^ Binney, J. and Tremaine, S.: Galactic Dynamics.. Princeton University Press. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  19. ^ Scott Tremaine. International Center for Scientific Research. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  20. ^ a b c Tremaine to Receive 1997 Brouwer Award. Harvard University. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  21. ^ Citations for 1987gady.book.....B from the ADS Databases. NASA's Astrophysical Data System. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  22. ^ Binney:Galactic Dynamics - Google Scholar. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  23. ^ Where Comets Come From. Discovery Magazine. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  24. ^ KENNETH CHANG (September 12th, 2006). Pluto’s Exotic Playmates. New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  25. ^ Hubble Finds Mysterious Disk Of Blue Stars Around A Black Hole. Science Daily. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  26. ^ Institute for Advanced Study: Faculty and Emeriti: Tremaine. Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  27. ^ Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. University of Toronto's The Bulletin. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  28. ^ a b Featured speakers for the CUPC 2003. Canadian Undergraduate Physics Conference. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  29. ^ Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. University of Toronto Bulletin. Retrieved on 2007-05-30.
  30. ^ ASTROPHYSICIST SCOTT TREMAINE JOINS THE FACULTY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDY. Institute for Advanced Study. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  31. ^ Top physicist gains stellar appointment. University of Toronto. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  32. ^ SIGCHI organizers. Retrieved on 2007-05-30.
  33. ^ Winners of the Canadian C.S. Beals Award. Canadian Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  34. ^ Carlyle Smith Beals (1899-1979). Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  35. ^ AAS Prizes and Awards. American Astronomical Society. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  36. ^ U. of T. The Bulletin, June 9/97, Faculty of Arts & Science. University of Toronto. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.
  37. ^ RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada : Rutherford Memorial Medals in Physics. The Royal Society of Canada. Retrieved on 2007-04-09.


Persondata
NAME Tremaine, Scott
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Astrophysicist
DATE OF BIRTH 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages