Priyamvada Natarajan
Encyclopedia
Priyamvada Natarajan is a professor in the departments of Astronomy
and Physics
at Yale University
. She is noted for key contributions to two of the most challenging problems in cosmology: mapping dark matter
and dark energy
as well as tracing the accretion history of black holes. Her work using gravitational lensing techniques has provided a deeper understanding of the granularity of dark matter in clusters of galaxies. She has developed theoretical models to describe the assembly and accretion history of black holes.
Currently, she is a visiting professor at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
in Cambridge, MA. She is also enrolled as a graduate student (Spring 2011) at the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT. She lives between Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT.
, Tamil Nadu
in India to academic parents, Venkatesa and Lalitha Natarajan. She is one of three children. Her father is an eminent educationist (although he started his career in civil engineering). He has pioneered educational testing, evaluation, and assessment in India. Her mother is a sociologist and is the author of several books. Priya grew up in Delhi
, India and studied at Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram
.
in England
, where she was a member of Trinity College
and was elected to a Title A Research Fellowship that she held from 1997 to 2003. Prior to coming to Yale, she was a visiting postdoctoral fellow for a few months at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
in Toronto, Canada.
in 2009, the American Physical Society
in 2010, and the Explorers Club in 2010. She was awarded a JILA (Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) Fellowship in 2010. In January, 2011 she was awarded an India Empire NRI award for Achievement in the Sciences in New Delhi, India. She will be the Caroline Herschel Distinguished Visitor at the Space Telescope Science Institute
in Baltimore for 2011-2012. In addition to her current appointments at Yale and Harvard, she also holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship, Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute
at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
She is on the scientific advisory board of ScienceNow at NOVA
.
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
and Physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. She is noted for key contributions to two of the most challenging problems in cosmology: mapping dark matter
Dark matter
In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is matter that neither emits nor scatters light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly detected via optical or radio astronomy...
and dark energy
Dark energy
In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain recent observations that the universe appears to be expanding...
as well as tracing the accretion history of black holes. Her work using gravitational lensing techniques has provided a deeper understanding of the granularity of dark matter in clusters of galaxies. She has developed theoretical models to describe the assembly and accretion history of black holes.
Currently, she is a visiting professor at the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
The Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics is one of the largest and most diverse astrophysical institutions in the world, where scientists carry out a broad program of research in astronomy, astrophysics, earth and space sciences, and science education...
in Cambridge, MA. She is also enrolled as a graduate student (Spring 2011) at the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT. She lives between Cambridge, MA and New Haven, CT.
Early life
Priya Natarajan was born in CoimbatoreCoimbatore
Coimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a major commercial centre in Tamil Nadu and is known as the "Manchester of South India"....
, Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
in India to academic parents, Venkatesa and Lalitha Natarajan. She is one of three children. Her father is an eminent educationist (although he started his career in civil engineering). He has pioneered educational testing, evaluation, and assessment in India. Her mother is a sociologist and is the author of several books. Priya grew up in Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
, India and studied at Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram
Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram
Delhi Public School, R. K. Puram, also known as DPS R K Puram or DPS RKP, is a private secondary school run by the Delhi Public School Society in Rama Krishna Puram, New Delhi, India. It is a co-educational day and boarding school with around 12,000 students spread across its three campuses...
.
Education
Priya has undergraduate degrees in Physics and Mathematics from M.I.T. She is also interested in the history and philosophy of science as well as technology and public policy and was enrolled in the M.I.T. Program in Science, Technology & Society and the M.I.T. Program in Technology and Public Policy from 1991 to 1993. She did her graduate work in theoretical astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, University of CambridgeUniversity 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...
in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where she was a member of Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
and was elected to a Title A Research Fellowship that she held from 1997 to 2003. Prior to coming to Yale, she was a visiting postdoctoral fellow for a few months at the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics
The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics is a national research institute funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, located at the University of Toronto in Toronto, Ontario, Canada...
in Toronto, Canada.
Research areas
Priya has done extensive work in the following fields:- Gravitational lensing- combining strong and weak lensing analysis techniques; use of lensing as a probe to study galaxy evolution in clusters via local weak shear effects; weak lensing by large-scale structure; using lensing as a probe of the shapes of dark matter halos; and understanding intrinsic correlations in the shapes of galaxies.
- Clusters of galaxies- using lensing, X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich data in conjunction to study the dynamics of galaxies in clusters; velocity anisotropy of galaxy orbits; characterizing cluster growth and evolution in phase space and physics of the relaxation process.
- Accretion physics- issues of the alignment of the spin of disks and the central black holes; the evolution of warped accretion disks; Lense-Thirring precession; the Blandford-Znajek mechanism, and the accretion history of supermassive black holes.
- Issues in galaxy formation and the fueling of quasars- the connection between high redshift galaxies, active galactic nuclei and their central black holes; the black hole mass function; role of quasars and their outflows in galaxy formation; kinematic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect from quasars; the physics of feedback processes in galaxy formation; stellar contributors to the X-ray background and the evolution of neutral gas with redshift.
- Binary black holes- the merger and evolution of supermassive black hole binaries in gas-rich galaxy cores; the electro-magnetic and gravitational wave signatures from these systems; the implications for structure formation at high redshifts.
- Gamma-ray bursts- the relation of gamma-ray burst rates to the globally averaged star formation rate, the morphology and properties of gamma-ray burst host galaxies in the optical, and sub-mm wave-bands, the SN-GRB connection.
Honors and awards
Priya was awarded the Emeline Conland Bigelow Fellowship at the Radcliffe Institute of Harvard University in 2008. In 2009, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship. Priya was also the 2009 recipient of the India Abroad Foundation's "Face of the Future " Award and the recipient of the award for academic achievement from the Global Organization for the People of Indian Origin (GOPIO). Priya was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical SocietyRoyal 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...
in 2009, the American Physical Society
American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
in 2010, and the Explorers Club in 2010. She was awarded a JILA (Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics) Fellowship in 2010. In January, 2011 she was awarded an India Empire NRI award for Achievement in the Sciences in New Delhi, India. She will be the Caroline Herschel Distinguished Visitor at the Space Telescope Science Institute
Space Telescope Science Institute
The Space Telescope Science Institute is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope and for the James Webb Space Telescope...
in Baltimore for 2011-2012. In addition to her current appointments at Yale and Harvard, she also holds the Sophie and Tycho Brahe Professorship, Dark Cosmology Center, Niels Bohr Institute
Niels Bohr Institute
The Niels Bohr Institute is a research institute of the University of Copenhagen. The research of the institute spans astronomy, geophysics, nanotechnology, particle physics, quantum mechanics and biophysics....
at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
She is on the scientific advisory board of ScienceNow at NOVA
Nova
A nova is a cataclysmic nuclear explosion in a star caused by the accretion of hydrogen on to the surface of a white dwarf star, which ignites and starts nuclear fusion in a runaway manner...
.