Warrick Couch

Warrick Couch

Warrick Couch at the Astronomy Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting in 2014
Born 1954 (age 61–62)[1]
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Residence Australia
Fields Astronomy
Institutions Australian Astronomical Observatory
Alma mater
Spouse Maryanne (deceased)
Children Three

Warrick John Couch (born 1954) is an Australian professional astronomer. He is the Director of Australia's largest optical observatory, the Australian Astronomical Observatory (AAO), the President of the Australian Institute of Physics, and he sits on the Board of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization. He was a founding non-executive director of Astronomy Australia Limited.[2]

His principal research area is the study of how galaxies form and evolve, with a particular focus on the role that their environment plays. This research has involved major observational programs using many of the largest ground-based optical telescopes (Gemini, VLT, AAT, ESO 3.6m, NTT) as well as space-based telescopes (Hubble, Chandra, ROSAT).[3]

Couch is recognized as one of the most highly cited researchers in his field. He was a member of the Supernova Cosmology Project, where his research contributed to the Nobel Prize winning work on the accelerating expansion of the universe, he was a joint winner of the Gruber Prize in Cosmology in 2007 for his role in the discovery of the accelerating universe, and a joint winner of the 2015 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics which "recognizes major insights into the deepest questions of the Universe". He is a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Biography

Early life and studies

Couch was born in Lower Hutt, in the Wellington Region on the North Island of New Zealand. His mother was a qualified teacher, and his father was a surveyor with interests in geophysics and astronomy, who later changed his career to become involved in geodetic computing. Describing his childhood in an interview, he said that he "came from a middle class family with lots of books in the house and parents who were very keen on [him] learning to play the piano." He read detective stories and adventure novels, and tinkered with mechanical things including Meccano and wood work. He excelled at mathematics and physics at school, and he developed an interest in astronomy while he attended university.[1]

His undergraduate studies were conducted at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. He received his BSc (Hons, 1st class) in Physics in 1976. He immediately commenced his MSc in Astrophysics, graduating in 1977 with his thesis titled: Interpretation of photometry on pulsating stars.

He qualified for a British Commonwealth Scholarship and moved to Canberra, Australia, where he studied for his PhD in Astrophysics at the Australian National University's (ANU's) Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories.

His doctoral research involved a detailed study of the colours of galaxies in distant rich clusters, which led to the first independent confirmation of the Butcher–Oemler Effect – the discovery that rich clusters contained many more blue galaxies in the past (compared to the present day), which at the time was quite controversial.[4][5] He graduated in 1982 with his thesis titled The colour evolution of galaxies in clusters.[5]

Career

In 1982, having received his doctorate, Couch moved to the University of Durham in England, where he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the observational cosmology group. Their main aim was to better understand the physical properties of the stars in distant "blue" cluster galaxies. This involved the development of several key technical innovations to better determine the galaxies’ spectral energy distributions, especially the world's first optical fibre multi-object spectrograph on the AAT, which simultaneously gathered high quality spectra for large numbers of these faint galaxies in distant clusters.[6] The results were unexpected: according to Couch, "the galaxies had undergone quite a dramatic star formation event... For some reason the galaxy switched on, formed stars at a great rate for a certain short period of time, and then got cut off."[7]

Light echoes from supernova SN1987a (image courtesy of NASA)

In 1985, he returned to Sydney to take up a four-year National Research Fellowship at the Anglo-Australian Observatory (which has since been renamed as the Australian Astronomical Observatory).[8] Over this period the advent of CCD imaging cameras on the AAT, with their greatly superior sensitivity, provided much more detailed information on distant galaxy clusters than was possible with the previous two-colour photographic approach. Couch exploited this opportunity to provide a clear picture of what the different spectral signatures told us about the underlying patterns of star formation activity.[9] In 1987, the brightest supernova in the modern era, SN1987a, exploded. In addition to being heavily involved in taking observations of SN1987A with the powerful suite of spectroscopic instruments on the AAT, Couch also worked with David Malin and David Allen to image and interpret the light echoes emanating from the supernova.[10]

M31 with smaller M32 below, subject of Couch's research into how galactic tides affect galaxy star formation
Galaxy cluster Abell 2218, showing over 100 Einstein arcs. Image from Hubble Space Telescope

In 1989 he was appointed as a lecturer in the School of Physics at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). He continued the research programs that he brought from the AAO, and soon after arriving at UNSW he (and collaborators from the AAO and the UK) published the most complete catalogue of distant rich galaxy clusters in the Southern sky, that were at redshifts of at least z=0.5.[11] He progressed quickly through the academic ranks, culminating with his appointment as the Head of the School of Physics in 2005.[12] Some of his best-known research works during this period came from a collaboration with his postdoc Dr Kenji Bekki, whose simulations suggested that the strong galactic tide of the famous Andromeda Galaxy (M31) on its smaller neighbour M32 may well have transformed it from a spiral galaxy into a compact elliptical by stripping away its arms and also triggered a massive star burst in the core, explaining the high density of M32,[13] and in 2003, in collaboration with Michael Drinkwater at the University of Queensland, he announced the discovery of a new type of galaxy, the ultra-compact dwarf (UCD).[14] In 1995, Couch and Richard Ellis published a picture they took using the Hubble Space Telescope of the galaxy cluster Abell 2218, more than two billion light years away, which showed more than one hundred Einstein arcs – curved streaks of light from even more distant sources which are distorted by the gravity of the cluster.[15] The "2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey" conducted on the AAT was unprecedented in scale: it measured the redshifts of 221,496 unique galaxies, allowing researchers to map the large-scale structure of galaxies in unprecedented detail.[16] During his time at UNSW, he built up the Astrophysics Department to place it in the top 1 per cent of the world's space science institutions, at a time when Couch himself accounted for forty per cent of the department's space science citations.[17]

In 2006, Couch took the decision to move to a smaller university, taking up the posts of Distinguished Professor, ARC Professorial Fellow and Director of the Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne.[3][18] He explained his motivation for making the change in an interview, saying that "wanting to do things to advance research is very, very difficult in a big university where there are many more groups competing for money".[19] While there, he was instrumental in forging a deal which allowed Swinburne astronomers access to the twin ten-metre Keck telescopes in Hawaii.[20]

The dome of the Anglo-Australian Telescope, also showing stunted trees recovering from the bushfires which came close to the telescopes in January 2013.

In 2013, he was appointed to his current role as Director of the AAO. In announcing the appointment, the Minister for Science and Research, Senator Chris Evans, described Couch as "one of Australia's leading astronomers and cosmologists".[21] The AAO has its headquarters and computing facilities in the Sydney suburb of North Ryde, while the actual telescopes, including the 3.9-metre Anglo-Australian Telescope, are located on Siding Spring Mountain, near the country town of Coonabarabran. One of his most pressing priorities in taking up this role was to assist the Australian National University with the recovery of the Siding Spring Observatory (which hosts the AAO telescopes) following the January 2013 bushfires. While the telescopes and their instrumentation remained intact, several buildings at the Observatory were destroyed by the fires.[22][23]

Research highlights

Couch's main area of research interest is to "construct a picture of how galaxies evolve with time, how their properties change, how this change is driven by their environment, and ... to understand how galaxies are organised in the universe".[24] More technically, this means looking at the evolution of galaxies as revealed by spectro-photometric and morphological analysis, particularly in rich galaxy clusters. He also has a strong interest in using large-scale galaxy clustering as an indicator of cosmic structure.

He has had a long association with the Australian Astronomical Observatory, starting in 1985 with a research fellowship, and culminating with his appointment in 2013 as its Director. He was the Chair of the AAO Advisory Committee from its establishment in 2010 until he became the Director, and before that he held the Chair of its predecessor, the Anglo-Australian Telescope Board.[21]

His main contribution as a senior member of the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey team was to trace star formation rates in galaxies and relate it to their environments.

He was also a lead investigator on the AAOmega "WiggleZ" Project, which provided some of the key evidence showing that the expansion of the universe is accelerating, driven by the previously unknown dark energy.[3][25] He described the concept thus: "everything – stars and in particular galaxies – is moving away from each other in all directions at a faster rate. Something, which has been called dark energy, is driving that because the most common force that controls motions in the universe, gravity, would cause things to slow down not speed up."[26] The project started in 2006 and ran for four years, taking detailed measurements of 240,000 galaxies and building a three-dimensional map of galaxies. The team of twenty researchers using the 3.9 metre AAT and also working with collaborators in Toronto, Canada and at the California Institute of Technology and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the US.[27]

Other noteworthy projects of his include the first attempts to find Type Ia supernovae in clusters at high redshift (i.e. long ago in galaxies that are far, far away) and to use them to determine constraints on cosmological parameters, analysis of data from the Hubble Space Telescope to determine how the development of galaxies are driven by their own character and by the environment that surrounds them, kinematical studies of how globular clusters move around nearby galaxies, and investigations of the nature and formation of the ultra-compact dwarf galaxy populations in rich clusters.[12][28] His study to determine the morphologies of galaxies in distant clusters, using data from images derived from the pre-refurbished Hubble Space Telescope, was used as the basis for the MORPHS collaboration.[29]

Giant Magellan Telescope, artist's concept

While conducting his own research projects, he also took on a number of senior management roles in large international research collaborations. These included being the Australian Gemini Scientist, Australian ELT Scientist, and Chair of the AAT Board. He currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Giant Magellan Telescope Organization, a ground-based extremely large telescope planned for completion in 2022, which will consist of seven 8.4 m (27.6 ft) diameter primary segments.[8][30][31][32] Within Australia, he was a founding non-executive director of Astronomy Australia Limited, set up as a peak body to manage funding provided by the Australian government for astronomy research infrastructure, and to represent it in international partnerships.[2]

Publications and citations

Couch is recognized as one of the most prolific and highly cited researchers in the field of astronomy: As of September 2014, he had published 371 total career publications, 226 of which were published in refereed journals. Cornell University's arXiv has links to 216 of his papers.[33]

As of February 2015, the Astrophysics Data System listed 32,202 citations of his works, giving a Hirsch h‐index of 74. For comparison, Kevin Pimbblet's analysis found that the highest h-index of any Australian astronomer was 77.[34] On the occasion of the award of an honorary Doctor of Science at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand in May 2012, the vice-chancellor Professor Pat Walsh highlighted that Couch is in the top ½% of his field as a high-citation researcher.[35](1:00) He is a "HiCi" researcher[36] (compiled by selecting those researchers in the field who have the highest number of highly cited papers over a 10-year period) and ISI Citation Laureate (determined by the number of high-impact papers each year and the total number of citations to those high-impact papers) from 1981 to 1998.[37]

Personal life

Couch met his wife-to-be, Maryanne Mooney, while he was a PhD student at ANU. She went on to become Training Manager at the Career Education Association of Victoria; Warrick described her as his "careers guru" and he credited her with making "an enormous contribution to my successful career in astronomy".[38] They have three children: Philip, Jonathan (known as Josh), and Anna.[1] Maryanne died from cancer on 5 April 2014.[39]

When he is not working, he follows cricket and rugby union, especially the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, and his other interests include music, travel, and home renovation.[8][12][40]

Awards and recognition

Key positions held

Research

2013– Director, Australian Astronomical Observatory[21]
2011–2013 Director, Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University[3]
2010–2012 Member, Australian Research Council College of Experts[47]
2008–2012 Australian Research Council Professorial Fellow
2005–2007 Australian Extremely Large Telescope Project Scientist
2001–2004 Australian Gemini Scientist[5]
1985–1989 Australian National Research Fellow, Anglo-Australian Observatory[8]
1982–1985 Postdoctoral Research Associate, Physics Department, University of Durham[8]

Academic

2006–2013 Distinguished Professor, Swinburne University of Technology[3]
2005–2006 Head, School of Physics, University of New South Wales[12]
2002–2006 Professor, School of Physics, University of New South Wales
1997–2001 Associate Professor, School of Physics, University of New South Wales
1992–1996 Senior Lecturer, School of Physics, University of New South Wales
1989–1991 Lecturer, School of Physics, University of New South Wales

Service

2015– President, Australian Institute of Physics[48]
2010–2013 Chair, Board of Directors, Astronomy Australia Limited[49][50]
2010–2012 Chair, Australian Astronomical Observatory Advisory Committee
Australian representative on the Board of Directors of the Giant Magellan Telescope[30]
Vice-President, Australian Institute of Physics[51]
2007–2010 Director, Astronomy Australia Limited[49]
2007–2010 Chair, Anglo-Australian Telescope Board[21]
2007–2009 President of the Astronomical Society of Australia[52]
2005–2009 Vice-Chair and Australian representative, Gemini Board of Directors
2003–2005 Chair, International Gemini Science Committee

Editorial boards

2000–2007 Member, Editorial Board, Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia[53]
1989–1993 Member, Editorial Board, Proceedings of the Astronomical Society of Australia

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bhathal, Ragbir, 2006, National Oral History Project on significant Australian astronomers and physicists; interview with Warrick Crouch (nla.oh-5664-0000) held in the archives of the National Library of Australia. Trove Index
  2. 1 2 "About AAL". Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL). Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Warrick Couch". Swinburne University of Technology Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  4. ↑ Bhathal, Ragbir; Sutherland, Ralph; Butcher, Harvey (2013). Mt Stromlo Observatory: from Bush Observatory to the Nobel Prize. CSIRO Publishing. p. 255. ISBN 9781486300761.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Bhathal, Ragbir. "Some aspects of the scientific development and astronomical research of Warrick Couch". Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. Royal Society of New South Wales. 146 (447 & 448): 17–24. ISSN 0035-9173.
  6. ↑ Couch, W. J.; et al. (1983). "Spectral energy distributions for galaxies in high redshift clusters – I : Methods and applications to 3 clusters with 0.22<z<0.31". MNRAS. 205: 1287–1312. Bibcode:1983MNRAS.205.1287C. doi:10.1093/mnras/205.4.1287. ISSN 0035-8711.
  7. ↑ Barger, A. J.; et al. (1996). "The life-cycle of star formation in distant clusters". MNRAS. 279: 1–24. arXiv:astro-ph/9509157Freely accessible. Bibcode:1996MNRAS.279....1B. doi:10.1093/mnras/279.1.1. ISSN 0035-8711.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 "AAO Welcomes New Director" (PDF). AAO Observer (124). Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. August 2013. p. 17. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  9. ↑ Couch, W.J., Sharples, R.M., 1987, MNRAS, 229, 423
  10. ↑ Couch, W.J., Allen, D.A., Malin, D.F., 1990, MNRAS, 242, 555
  11. ↑ Haynes, Raymond (2000). Explorers of the southern sky: a history of Australian astronomy (Reissue ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 363. ISBN 9780521365758.
  12. 1 2 3 4 "Dr. Warrick Couch: Australian Gemini Project Scientist". Gemini Observatory. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
  13. ↑ Bekki, Kenji; Couch, Warrick J.; Drinkwater, Michael J.; Gregg, Michael D. (2001). "A New Formation Model for M32: A Threshed Early-Type Spiral Galaxy?". Astrophysical Journal Letters. 557 (1): L39. arXiv:astro-ph/0107117Freely accessible. Bibcode:2001ApJ...557L..39B. doi:10.1086/323075.
  14. ↑ Smith, Deborah (29 May 2003). "Star search finds millions masquerading as one". Sydney Morning Herald. p. 5. ISSN 0312-6315.
  15. ↑ Schilling, Govert (2011). "Elongated Galaxies". Atlas of Astronomical Discoveries. New York, NY: Springer New York. ISBN 9781441978110.
  16. ↑ Couch, Warrick J., Colless, Matthew M., and de Propris, Roberto, Clustering Studies with the 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey in Mulchaey, John S.; Dressler, Alan; Oemler, Augustus, eds. (2004). Clusters of galaxies: probes of cosmological structure and galaxy evolution (1. publ. ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 42–57. ISBN 9780521755771.
  17. ↑ Cooper, Dani (29 October 2003). "NSW soars to top league on space science". The Australian. p. 19.
  18. 1 2 "Swinburne pulls cosmic prize". The Australian. 12 September 2007. p. 25.
  19. ↑ Armitage, Catherine (12 September 2007). "Why size needn't matter". The Australian. p. 30.
  20. ↑ O'Keefe, Brendan (23 April 2008). "We can Keck out cosmos". The Australian. News Limited Australia. p. 23.
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 "Professor Warrick Couch new AAO Director". CAASTRO Australian Research Council, Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  22. ↑ "Prof Warrick Couch appointed AAO Director". Swinburne University of Technology. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  23. ↑ Lewis, Rosie; Edwards, Harry (14 January 2013). "Furious bushfire strikes Siding Spring Observatory". The Australian. p. 2.
  24. ↑ "UNSW Astrophysics Department in same league as NASA". PM. ABC. 29 October 2003.
  25. ↑ Dayton, Leigh (20 May 2011). "After study of 240,000 galaxies, dark energy comes to light". The Australian. News Limited Australia. p. 3.
  26. ↑ Maher, Cassie (12 January 2010). "Welcome to the dark side". Progress Leader. Melbourne. p. 24.
  27. ↑ Maslen, Geoff (8 February 2010). "Wiggles on the dark side". The Age. Fairfax Media. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
  28. ↑ Bartusiak, Marcia (1 January 1997). "What makes galaxies change? (cover story)". Astronomy (magazine). Kalmbach Publishing Co. 25 (1): 35. ISSN 0091-6358.
  29. ↑ Couch, W.J.; Ellis, R.S.; Sharples, R.M.; Smail, Ian (1994). "Morphological Studies of the Galaxy Populations in Distant "Butcher-Oemler" Clusters with HST. I. AC 114 at z = 0.31 and ABELL 370 at z = 0.37". The Astrophysical Journal. 430 (1): 121–138. Bibcode:1994ApJ...430..121C. doi:10.1086/174387.
  30. 1 2 "Giant Magellan Telescope - People". GMTO Board of Directors: Giant Magellan Telescope Organization. Archived from the original on 1 August 2014. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  31. ↑ Joe Palca (2012-01-14), "Mega Mirror To Power Massive New Telescope", All Things Considered, NPR
  32. ↑ "Giant Magellan Telescope Partner Institutions". GMT Consortium. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
  33. ↑ "Search results for au:Couch_W". arXiv.org. Cornell University Library. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  34. ↑ Pimbblet, Kevin A. "The h-index in Australian Astronomy". arXiv:1103.3130Freely accessible.
  35. 1 2 "Victoria University Graduation May 2012 - Honorary Doctorate Prof Warrick Couch". Retrieved 15 August 2014.
  36. 1 2 "Highly Cited Researchers 2001". THOMSON REUTERS. Retrieved 24 December 2014.
  37. 1 2 Manchester, Dick. "Australia's Citation Laureates". Australia Telescope National Facility, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  38. ↑ Couch, Warrick J (2012). "The Big Picture" (PDF). p. 24. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  39. ↑ "Maryanne Couch Obituary". The Age. 8 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  40. ↑ "Meet the Instructor: Professor Warrick Couch". Swinburne University. Archived from the original on 13 January 2015. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  41. ↑ "Recipients Of The 2015 Breakthrough Prizes In Fundamental Physics And Life Sciences Announced". Breakthrough Prizes. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  42. ↑ "Nobel physics prize honours accelerating Universe find". BBC News. 2011-10-04.
  43. ↑ "The Fellowship, 31 March 2009" (PDF). Australian Academy of Science. Retrieved 9 January 2015. Australia's leading research scientists, elected for their personal contributions to science.
  44. ↑ "Discovery Projects Funding Outcomes - 2009 for funding commencing in 2010 - Listing by RFCD" (Word document). Australian Research Council. Commonwealth of Australia. 2009-11-05. p. 139. Retrieved 8 September 2014. Approved Project Title: The fundamental physics governing the formation of cosmic structure
  45. ↑ "Group Award Winners" (PDF). Royal Astronomical Society. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  46. ↑ Preuss, Paul. "Gruber Cosmology Prize Awarded to Discoverers of Dark Energy". Research News. Berkeley Lab, California, US. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  47. ↑ "ARC College in Annual Report 2011–12" (PDF). Australian Government: Australian Research Council. p. 206. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  48. ↑ "Individual AIP Contacts". www.aip.org.au. The Australian Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  49. 1 2 "News 19th November 2013". Astronomy Australia Limited. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  50. ↑ "Quarterly update: December 2010". Astronomy Australia Limited. Archived from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  51. ↑ "Individual AIP Contacts". www.aip.org.au. The Australian Institute of Physics. Archived from the original on 7 January 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2015.
  52. ↑ "Presidents" (PDF). Astronomical Society of Australia. Retrieved 29 December 2014.
  53. ↑ "Minutes of the 34th Annual General Meeting held on Thursday 6 July 2000 at the University of Tasmnia." (PDF). 7. Editor's Report: Astronomical Society of Australia. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
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