Chris Lintott
Encyclopedia
Christopher John Lintott (born 1980, Torbay
) is an English astrophysicist
currently serving as the Director of Citizen Science at the Adler Planetarium
. He is a post-doctoral researcher who is involved in a number of popular science
projects aimed at bringing astronomical science
to a wider audience. He is the co-presenter of Patrick Moore
's BBC
series The Sky at Night
and a co-author of the book Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe with Patrick Moore and Queen
guitarist Brian May
.
in Devon, whilst living in Churston Ferrers
. Whilst at school, in 1999, he won a $500 Earth and Space Sciences award and the Priscilla and Bart Bok
Honorable Mention Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
for an article on Dust
Around Young Stellar Object
s. This came from a six week project at the University of Hertfordshire
funded by a Nuffield bursary
. Lintott read for a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge
where he was a student of Magdalene College. He received a PhD
in astrophysics
from University College London
, where his thesis was on the subject of star formation
. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
and is presently a researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford
and a junior research fellow at Somerville College
. His research there focuses on galaxies, galaxy evolution, and on the application of astrochemical
models of star formation to galaxies beyond the Milky Way
; particularly the use of sulphur compounds as a signature of stars that are in the process of forming.
programme The Sky at Night
, presented by Patrick Moore
, as a guest in 2000. As Moore's mobility has deteriorated, Lintott has had an increasingly prominent role, often providing on-location reporting from events covered by the programme. He now jointly presents the programme with Moore.
In July 2004 Moore suffered a near-fatal bout of food poisoning and Lintott took over as presenter of that month's episode. It is the only episode which Moore has not presented since the show was first broadcast on 24 April 1957.
and Queen
guitarist and astronomer Brian May
, of the book Bang! - The Complete History of the Universe, which was produced by Canopus Books and published by Carlton Books on 23 October 2006, has been translated into 13 languages, and recently appeared in paperback. As suggested by the title, the illustrated book is a history of the Universe
from the Big Bang
to its eventual predicted end. It is aimed at a popular science
audience and claims to make its subject matter easily comprehensible to readers who come to it without any knowledge of astronomy.
project where members of the public can volunteer their time to assist in classifying over a million galaxies
. The project, named Galaxy Zoo
, is inspired by Stardust@home
, where the public were asked by NASA
to search images obtained from a mission to a comet
for interstellar dust impacts. Describing the Galaxy Zoo project, Lintott commented that, "One advantage is that you get to see parts of space that have never been seen before. These images were taken by a robotic telescope and processed automatically, so the odds are that when you log on, that first galaxy you see will be one that no human has seen before." Volunteers are asked to judge from the images whether the galaxies are elliptical
or spiral
and, if spiral, in which direction they are rotating.
Torbay
Torbay is an east-facing bay and natural harbour, at the western most end of Lyme Bay in the south-west of England, situated roughly midway between the cities of Exeter and Plymouth. Part of the ceremonial county of Devon, Torbay was made a unitary authority on 1 April 1998...
) is an English astrophysicist
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
currently serving as the Director of Citizen Science at the Adler Planetarium
Adler Planetarium
The Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Illinois was the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere and is the oldest in existence today. Adler was founded and built in 1930 by the philanthropist Max Adler, with the assistance of the first director of the planetarium, Philip Fox...
. He is a post-doctoral researcher who is involved in a number of popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
projects aimed at bringing astronomical science
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
to a wider audience. He is the co-presenter of Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
's BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
series The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
and a co-author of the book Bang! – The Complete History of the Universe with Patrick Moore and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
guitarist Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
.
Academic background
He attended Torquay Boys' Grammar SchoolTorquay Boys' Grammar School
Torquay Boys' Grammar School is a selective boys grammar school in Torquay, Devon, England.-Admissions:, it has approximately 1,058 students. The school was founded in 1904 and celebrated its centenary in 2004...
in Devon, whilst living in Churston Ferrers
Churston
Churston Ferrers is a historic civil parish within Torbay, in Devon, England. It contains the two villages of Churston, a coastal village, and the now larger Galmpton. It is situated in between Paignton and Brixham....
. Whilst at school, in 1999, he won a $500 Earth and Space Sciences award and the Priscilla and Bart Bok
Bart Bok
Bart Jan Bok was a Dutch-American astronomer.He was born in the Netherlands, but spent a good deal of his childhood days growing up in what was then known as the Dutch East Indies. He was educated at the Leiden and Groningen Universities. In 1929 he married fellow astronomer Dr...
Honorable Mention Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
Intel International Science and Engineering Fair
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the largest pre-college scientific research event in the world, and is owned and administered by the Society for Science & the Public a 501 non-profit organization based in Washington, DC...
for an article on Dust
Cosmic dust
Cosmic dust is a type of dust composed of particles in space which are a few molecules to 0.1 µm in size. Cosmic dust can be further distinguished by its astronomical location; for example: intergalactic dust, interstellar dust, interplanetary dust and circumplanetary dust .In our own Solar...
Around Young Stellar Object
Young stellar object
Young stellar object denotes a star in its early stage of evolution.This class consists of two groups of objects: protostars and pre–main sequence stars. Sometimes they are divided by mass - massive YSO , intermediate mass YSO and brown dwarfs....
s. This came from a six week project at the University of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
The University of Hertfordshire is a new university based largely in Hatfield, in the county of Hertfordshire, England, from which the university takes its name. It has more than 27,500 students, over 2500 staff, with a turnover of over £181m...
funded by a Nuffield bursary
Nuffield Foundation
The Nuffield Foundation is a British charitable trust, established in 1943 by William Morris , the founder of the Morris Motor Company. Lord Nuffield wanted to contribute to improvements in society, including the expansion of education and the alleviation of disadvantage...
. Lintott read for a degree in Natural Sciences from the University of Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
where he was a student of Magdalene College. He received a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in astrophysics
Astrophysics
Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior...
from University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, where his thesis was on the subject of star formation
Star formation
Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of plasma to form a star. As a branch of astronomy star formation includes the study of the interstellar medium and giant molecular clouds as precursors to the star formation process and the study of young...
. He is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society
Royal Astronomical Society
The Royal Astronomical Society is a learned society that began as the Astronomical Society of London in 1820 to support astronomical research . It became the Royal Astronomical Society in 1831 on receiving its Royal Charter from William IV...
and is presently a researcher in the Department of Physics at the University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
and a junior research fellow at Somerville College
Somerville College, Oxford
Somerville College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England, and was one of the first women's colleges to be founded there...
. His research there focuses on galaxies, galaxy evolution, and on the application of astrochemical
Astrochemistry
Astrochemistry is the study of the abundance and reactions of chemical elements and molecules in the universe, and their interaction with radiation. The discipline is an overlap of astronomy and chemistry. The word "astrochemistry" may be applied to both the Solar System and the interstellar medium...
models of star formation to galaxies beyond the Milky Way
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...
; particularly the use of sulphur compounds as a signature of stars that are in the process of forming.
The Sky at Night
He first appeared on the BBC astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
programme The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night
The Sky at Night is a monthly documentary television programme on astronomy produced by the BBC. The show has had the same permanent presenter, Sir Patrick Moore, from its first airing on 24 April 1957, making it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.The...
, presented by Patrick Moore
Patrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
, as a guest in 2000. As Moore's mobility has deteriorated, Lintott has had an increasingly prominent role, often providing on-location reporting from events covered by the programme. He now jointly presents the programme with Moore.
In July 2004 Moore suffered a near-fatal bout of food poisoning and Lintott took over as presenter of that month's episode. It is the only episode which Moore has not presented since the show was first broadcast on 24 April 1957.
Bang! - The Complete History of the Universe
Lintott is the author, along with Patrick MoorePatrick Moore
Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
and Queen
Queen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
guitarist and astronomer Brian May
Brian May
Brian Harold May, CBE is an English musician and astrophysicist most widely known as the guitarist and a songwriter of the rock band Queen...
, of the book Bang! - The Complete History of the Universe, which was produced by Canopus Books and published by Carlton Books on 23 October 2006, has been translated into 13 languages, and recently appeared in paperback. As suggested by the title, the illustrated book is a history of the Universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
from the Big Bang
Big Bang
The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological model that explains the early development of the Universe. According to the Big Bang theory, the Universe was once in an extremely hot and dense state which expanded rapidly. This rapid expansion caused the young Universe to cool and resulted in...
to its eventual predicted end. It is aimed at a popular science
Popular science
Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by scientists as well as journalists, and is presented in many...
audience and claims to make its subject matter easily comprehensible to readers who come to it without any knowledge of astronomy.
Galaxy Zoo
Lintott has been involved in an online crowdsourcingCrowdsourcing
Crowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
project where members of the public can volunteer their time to assist in classifying over a million galaxies
Galaxy
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The word galaxy is derived from the Greek galaxias , literally "milky", a...
. The project, named Galaxy Zoo
Galaxy Zoo
Galaxy Zoo is an online astronomy project which invites members of the public to assist in the morphological classification of large numbers of galaxies. It is an example of citizen science as it enlists the help of members of the public to help in scientific research. An improved version—Galaxy...
, is inspired by Stardust@home
Stardust@home
Stardust@home is a citizen science project that encourages volunteers to search images for tiny interstellar dust impacts. The project began providing data for analysis on August 1, 2006....
, where the public were asked by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to search images obtained from a mission to a comet
Comet
A comet is an icy small Solar System body that, when close enough to the Sun, displays a visible coma and sometimes also a tail. These phenomena are both due to the effects of solar radiation and the solar wind upon the nucleus of the comet...
for interstellar dust impacts. Describing the Galaxy Zoo project, Lintott commented that, "One advantage is that you get to see parts of space that have never been seen before. These images were taken by a robotic telescope and processed automatically, so the odds are that when you log on, that first galaxy you see will be one that no human has seen before." Volunteers are asked to judge from the images whether the galaxies are elliptical
Elliptical galaxy
An elliptical galaxy is a galaxy having an approximately ellipsoidal shape and a smooth, nearly featureless brightness profile. They range in shape from nearly spherical to highly flat and in size from hundreds of millions to over one trillion stars...
or spiral
Spiral galaxy
A spiral galaxy is a certain kind of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work The Realm of the Nebulae and, as such, forms part of the Hubble sequence. Spiral galaxies consist of a flat, rotating disk containing stars, gas and dust, and a central concentration of stars known as...
and, if spiral, in which direction they are rotating.
Publications
- Also see Galaxy Zoo Published Papers
- Lintott, Chris J and Viti, Serena, "Molecular signature of star formation at high redshifts" Astrophysics and Space Science, Volume 313, Issue 1-3, pp. 327–330
- Lintott, CJ; Ferreras, I; Lahav, O, "Massive Elliptical Galaxies: From Cores to Halos" The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 648, Issue 2, pp. 826–834.
- Lintott, Chris and Viti, Serena "Rapid Star Formation in the Presence of Active Galactic Nuclei" The Astrophysical Journal, volume 646, Issue 1, pages L37–L39
- Lintott, CJ; Rawlings, JMC, "Determining the cosmic ray ionization rate in dynamically evolving clouds" Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 448, Issue 2, March III 2006, pp. 425–432
- Lintott, CJ; Viti, S; Williams, DA; Rawlings, JMC; Ferreras, I, "Hot cores: probes of high-redshift galaxies?" Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 360, Issue 4, pp. 1527–1531.
- Lintott, CJ, "The age of precision cosmology?" Journal of the British Astronomical Association, vol.113, no.4, p. 231-232
External links
- Chris Lintott's Blog
- Astronomy podcasts by Chris Lintott and Harriet Scott
- Watch "The Sky at Night" free at the official BBC site