Anna Watts
Born
Anna Louise Watts
EducationBradford Girls' Grammar School
Alma materUniversity of Oxford (BA)
University of Southampton (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
Neutron stars
Physics[1]
InstitutionsUniversity of Amsterdam
Goddard Space Flight Center
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Ministry of Defence
ThesisThe dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars (2003)
Doctoral advisorNils Andersson[2]
Websitestaff.fnwi.uva.nl/a.l.watts/

Anna Louise Watts is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. She studies neutron stars and their thermonuclear explosions.[1][3]

Education

Watts was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School.[4] She studied physics at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class degree from the University of Oxford in 1995.[5] She entered the science stream at the Ministry of Defence on a graduate scheme, where she worked for five years.[5] Watts completed her PhD[2] in physics supervised by Nils Andersson (physicist) in the general relativity group researching neutron stars.[5][6]

Career and research

After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center.[6][7] She then received a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.[6][8] In 2008 Watts joined the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy.[4]

Watts looks to understand the physics behind the violent dynamic events that occur on neutron stars. These include magnetic flares, thermonuclear explosions, and starquakes.[9] Her research lies at the intersection of theoretical physics and astrophysics. Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes.[10] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions.[11]

She is involved in the development future high-energy space telescopes.[9] Watts is part of the science team for the NASA probe Strobe-X.[12] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group.[13][14] She is also chair of Network 3 for NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy.[15] She served on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology committee.[16] Watts has contributed to Times Higher Education and Vice.[17][18]

References

  1. 1 2 Anna Watts publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. 1 2 Watts, Anna Louise (2003). The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars. soton.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Southampton. OCLC 500094585. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.432636.
  3. ↑ Turolla, R; Zane, S; Watts, A L (2015). "Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (11): 116901. arXiv:1507.02924. Bibcode:2015RPPh...78k6901T. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/11/116901. ISSN 0034-4885. PMID 26473534. S2CID 15317167.
  4. 1 2 Wijngaarden, Evert Rol, Martin Heemskerk, David Hendriks, Timo Halbesma, Marcella. "API - Alumni - Dr. Anna Watts". api-alumni.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. 1 2 3 Woods, Karen. "Dr Anna Watts" (PDF). University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 "Anna Watts, Mathematical Sciences". southampton.ac.uk. University of Southampton. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  7. ↑ "NASA - NASA Sees Hidden Structure of Neutron Star in Starquake". nasa.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  8. ↑ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  9. 1 2 Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "dr. A.L. (Anna) Watts - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  11. ↑ Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "ERC Starting Grants awarded to Faculty of Science researchers - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Archived from the original on 17 March 2018. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  12. ↑ "The STROBE-X Team". nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 26 August 2019. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  13. ↑ "WG4 - Observatory Science". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  14. ↑ "WG1 - Dense Matter". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  15. ↑ "72nd Netherlands Astronomy Conference". astronomenclub.nl. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  16. ↑ "COST | The multi-messenger physics and astrophysics of neutron stars - Management Committee". cost.eu. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  17. ↑ "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson". Times Higher Education (THE). 8 June 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
  18. ↑ "For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare". Broadly. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
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