Stephen Smartt

Stephen J. Smartt CBE FRS (born 9 November 1968) is an astrophysicist from Northern Ireland who specialises in stellar evolution, supernovae and time domain sky surveys.^[1] He is credited with the discovery of stars that explode as supernovae, measuring their mass, luminosity and the chemical elements synthesized.^[1] Smartt is a Professor of Astrophysics at the School of Mathematics and Physics at Queen's University Belfast.^[2] He is a patron of Northern Ireland Humanists.^[3]

Education[edit]

Born and raised in Belfast, Smartt was educated at Belfast Royal Academy and studied physics and applied mathematics at Queen’s University Belfast. He was awarded a PhD in astrophysics in 1996.^[1]

Career[edit]

He worked at the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes and held a fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Smartt returned to Belfast in 2004 and established a group working on stellar evolution, supernovae and time domain sky surveys.^{[citation needed]} In September 2022 Smartt was appointed the Wetton Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford and Director of the Hintze Centre for Astrophysical Surveys.

Honours and awards[edit]

Smartt was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to science.^[4]

• Member of the Royal Irish Academy^[5]
• Fellow of the Royal Society, 2020 ^[6]
• Philip Leverhulme Prize, 2005 ^[7]

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• "Spinning black hole 'swallowed star'". BBC News. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 4 May 2020.