Ken Freeman (astronomer)

Ken Freeman FAA, FRS
Ken Freeman in 2008
Born	27 August 1940 (1940-08-27) (age 71) Perth, Australia
Residence	Canberra, Australia
Fields	Astronomy and astrophysics
Institutions	Australian National University
Alma mater	University of Western Australia, Cambridge University
Known for	Freeman Law, and co-authoring the best-selling book, 'Shrouds of the Night'.
Notable awards	Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (1999) Centenary Medal (2003)

Kenneth Charles (Ken) Freeman, FAA , FRS (born 27 August 1940) is an Australian astronomer and astrophysicist who is currently Duffield Professor of Astronomy in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Mount Stromlo Observatory of the Australian National University in Canberra. He was born in Perth, Australia in 1940, studied mathematics and physics at the University of Western Australia, and graduated with first class honours in applied mathematics in 1962. He then went to Cambridge University for postgraduate work in theoretical astrophysics with Leon Mestel and Donald Lynden-Bell, and completed his doctorate in 1965. Following a postdoctoral appointment at the University of Texas with Gérard de Vaucouleurs, and a research fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he returned to Australia in 1967 as a Queen Elizabeth Fellow at Mount Stromlo. Apart from a year in the Kapteyn Institute in Groningen in 1976 and some occasional absences overseas, he has been at Mount Stromlo ever since.^[1]

His research interests are in the formation and dynamics of galaxies and globular clusters, and he is particularly interested in the problem of dark matter in galaxies: he was one of the first point out that spiral galaxies contain a large fraction of dark matter.^[2] He regularly visits the Space Telescope Science Institute as Distinguished Visiting Scientist.^[3]

He is very interested in graduate students and has acted as primary supervisor for 54 PhD students and seven postdocs. Five of his students have won Hubble Fellowships. He is active in international astronomy, as a division past-president of the International Astronomical Union, and serves on visiting committees for several major astronomical institutions around the world. He has been an invited speaker at 121 international conferences since 1969.^[4]

Appointments and Honours

1972 Pawsey Medal of the Australian Academy of Science
1981 Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
1990 Aaronson Lecturer at the University of Arizona
1994 Oort Professor at Leiden University
1997 Visiting fellow at Merton College Oxford
1998 Fellow of the Royal Society of London
1999 Dannie Heineman prize of the American Institute of Physics and the American Astronomical Society
2001 Tinsley Professor at the University of Texas
2001 Bishop Lecturer at Columbia University.
2001 Named by ISI as one of Australia's 35 most highly cited scientists (ranked number 5)
2001 Gave the Robert Ellery Lecture for the Astronomical Society of Australia
2002 Associate of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2002
2003 Blaauw professor at the University of Groningen and he received the
2003 Centenary Medal from the Australian Government
2004 Awarded the Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Lecture and Medal at the University of Texas.

References

^ Freeman, Kenneth Charles (1940 - ), Bright Sparcs (University of Melbourne), 7 November 2005.
^ Dark matter in galaxies, Institute of Advanced Studies, 14 August 2008.
^ Cluster One Research Evaluation Committee Biographies of Members, Australian Research Council, 5 August 2009.
^ The Dynamics, Structure and History of Galaxies ASP Conference Series, Vol. 273, 2002 (G.S. Da Costa & H. Jerjen, eds)

External links

Australian National University staff page

Persondata
Name	Freeman, Ken
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	27 August 1940
Place of birth	Perth, Australia
Date of death
Place of death