Péter István Mészáros
Born(1943-07-15)July 15, 1943
Budapest, Hungary
NationalityHungarian
CitizenshipHungary, United States
Alma materUniversity of Buenos Aires
University of California, Berkeley
Princeton University
Cambridge University
Known forGamma ray bursts,
Mészáros effect
AwardsEinstein Professorship, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Bruno Rossi Prize
First Prize, Gravity Research Foundation
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsPennsylvania State University
Doctoral advisorGeorge B. Field

Péter István Mészáros (born 15 July 1943)[1] is a Hungarian-American theoretical astrophysicist, best known for the Mészáros effect[2] in cosmology and for his work on gamma-ray bursts.[3][4]

Life

Péter Mészáros was born in 1943 in Budapest, Hungary, and grew up in Liège, Belgium and Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he did his undergraduate studies. He received his PhD in 1972 from the University of California, Berkeley, and after postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and Cambridge University he became a staff scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. He joined the Pennsylvania State University in 1983, where for ten years he was Head of the department of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Professor of Physics, being named Eberly Chair Professor.[5]

Career

Mészáros is widely known in the astrophysical community for his papers on the relativistic fireball shock model of gamma ray bursts and their afterglows,[3][4] laying down the framework for the interplay between the jet dynamics and the external as well as internal shocks which determine the observational aspects of these sources. He is also known in the cosmological community for the Mészáros effect,[2] or Mészáros equation, which quantifies the influence of dark matter in the evolution of the initial perturbations leading to large scale structures in cosmology. He was active in the study of the interstellar medium as well as the astrophysics of black holes, and contributed broadly to the study of magnetized neutron stars, e.g.[6] He served as the science-theory lead of the NASA Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory space mission. His current interests include calculations of theoretical models of cosmic high energy cosmic ray and neutrino sources, e.g.,[7][8] as well as exploring various aspects of multimessenger astrophysics.

Positions

Mészáros is a Member of the US National Academy of Sciences (2021),[9] Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2010),[10] Member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (2010),[11][1] Fellow of the American Physical Society (1996) and Fellow of the American Astronomical Society (2019). He is the Eberly Chair Professor Emeritus of Astronomy and Astrophysics and of Physics at Penn State, and is currently the Director of its Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics.[12]

Awards

Personal life

Mészáros is married to Deborah Mészáros, and they have an adult son, Andor Mészáros.

References

  1. 1 2 "Az MTA köztestületének tagjai (en: Members of the Hungarian Academy)" (in Hungarian). Magyar Tudomanyos Academia (en: Hungarian Academy of Sciences). p. Mészáros Péter. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  2. 1 2 Mészáros, P., "The behaviour of point masses in an expanding cosmological substratum", Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 37, no. 2, Dec. 1974, p. 225-228
  3. 1 2 Mészáros, P. and Rees, M.J., "Optical and Long-Wavelength Afterglow from Gamma-Ray Bursts", The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 476, Issue 1, Feb. 1997, pp. 232-237
  4. 1 2 Rees, M.J. and Mészáros, P., "Unsteady Outflow Models for Cosmological Gamma-Ray Bursts", Astrophysical Journal Letters v.430, August 1994, pp.L93-L96
  5. ↑ https://news.psu.edu/story/207785/2005/10/14/meszaros-named-holder-eberly-family-chair-astronomy-astrophysics Eberly Chair Professor
  6. ↑ Mészáros, Peter (1992), High energy radiation from magnetized neutron stars, Chicago: University of Chicago, ISBN 0-226-52093-5, pp.1-531
  7. ↑ Rachen, J.P. and Mészáros, P., "Photohadronic neutrinos from transients in astrophysical sources", Physical Review D, Volume 58, Issue 12, 15 December 1998, id. 123005
  8. ↑ Murase, K., Kimura, S.S. and Mészáros, P., "Hidden Cores of Active Galactic Nuclei as the Origin of Medium-Energy Neutrinos: Critical Tests with the MeV Gamma-Ray Connection", Physical Review Letters, Volume 125, Issue 1, June 2020, id. 011101
  9. ↑ "NAS Fellows 2021". NAS. Retrieved 26 April 2021., entry in member directory:"Member Directory". National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  10. ↑ "Peter Meszaros elected as a 2010 American Academy Fellow | Penn State University". news.psu.edu.
  11. ↑ "Peter Meszaros elected a member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences | Penn State University". news.psu.edu.
  12. ↑ http://sites.psu.edu/cmma Penn State Center for Multimessenger Astrophysics
  13. ↑ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
  14. ↑ "Einstein Professorship Awarded to Péter Mészáros by the Chinese Academy | Eberly College of Science".
  15. ↑ "Peter Mészáros Interview - Special Topic of Gamma-ray Bursts - ScienceWatch.com". archive.sciencewatch.com.
  16. ↑ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Peter I. Mészáros".
  17. ↑ "APS Fellows". American Physical Society.
  18. ↑ "Gravity Research Foundation". Gravity Research Foundation.
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