Meg Urry

Claudia Megan "Meg" Urry is an American astrophysicist, who was from 2015–2016 the President of the American Astronomical Society, formerly on the Hubble Space Telescope faculty and was chair of the Department of Physics at Yale University 2007–2013.[1] She is notable not only for her contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, including work on black holes and multiwavelength surveys, but also for her work addressing sexism and gender equity in astronomy,[2] and science and academia more generally.

Meg Urry
Meg Urry speaking at Fermilab.
EducationTufts University, B.A. 1977
Johns Hopkins University, M.S. 1979
Johns Hopkins University, Ph.D. 1984
Scientific career
FieldsAstrophysics
InstitutionsYale University
Doctoral advisorArt Davidsen

Early life and education

After growing up in Indiana and Massachusetts, Urry attended college at Tufts University, double-majoring in mathematics, music and physics,[3] and graduating in 1977.[4]

Urry earned an M.S. (1979) and a Ph.D. (1984)[4] in physics from Johns Hopkins, where her advisor was Art Davidsen.[3] For her dissertation, she studied blazars at Goddard Space Flight Center with Richard Mushotzky.[3] She then conducted a postdoctorate at M.I.T.'s Center for Space Research,[1] working with Claude Canizares.[3] Urry joined Yale's faculty in 2001, at that time as the only woman in the department,[1] and became Chair in 2007.[3]

Career

Urry has been active in addressing gender inequities in astronomy and science more generally, giving more than 60 talks on the topic[4], including at the annual Conferences for Undergraduate Women in Physics (CUWiP). With Laura Danly, Urry co-organized the first meeting of Women in Astronomy.[3]

Urry studies supermassive black holes, known as Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), and the relationship of normal galaxies to AGNs.

Awards and honors

Further reading

References
  1. Eileen Pollack, "Why Are There Still So Few Women in Science?", New York Times, Oct. 6, 2013.
  2. Urry, Meg (2010). "Women in (European) Astronomy". In Röser, Siegfried (ed.). Formation and Evolution of Cosmic Structures. Reviews in Modern Astronomy. Volume 21. Wiley-VCH. pp. 249–261.
  3. Karen Masters, "She's an Astronomer: Meg Urry", Galaxy Zoo (May 2, 2010)
  4. "Meg Urry" Archived 2013-10-04 at the Wayback Machine (faculty profile), Yale University
  5. "National Academy of Sciences Members and Foreign Associates Elected". Retrieved 2016-05-05.


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