Canadian Astronomer Profile: Dr. Peter Brown

Peter Brown

Assistant Professor, University of Western Ontario

Professor Brown, posing beside telescope and camera on a recent observing expedition.

Education Background:

• B.Sc. University of Alberta (Honors Physics)
• M.Sc. University of Western Ontario (Physics)
• Ph.D. University of Western Ontario (Physics)
• Post-Doctorate Research: Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Currently an assistant Professor in Physics & Astronomy at UWO

• 1995 Governor General's Gold Medal ( UWO)
• 2000 Listed as one of the "Top 100 Young Canadians to Watch in the 21st Century" by Maclean's Magazine (Jan. 1, 2000 issue).
• 2001 Plaskett Medal of CASCA/ RASC
• 2001 Canada Research Chair in Meteor Science
• 2001 Ontario Distinguished Researcher Award

Research Interests:

"Small bodies in the solar system and how they interact with the Earth. In the last few decades it has become clear that the Earth is greatly affected by cosmic debris (just ask the dinosaurs). Asteroid and comet impacts lead to large-scale species extinctions, they helped in the delivery of organic material to the young Earth and may have acted as a possible catalyst for early life and dangers to
spacecraft from impacting meteoroids are just some of the reasons this research is timely and exciting. I try to look at space dust and space boulders as they
hit the upper atmosphere using lots of different measurement techniques, from
radar to optical techniques to satellites in space. Each technique provides another
piece of the puzzle.

"As one example, we are using a radar to look for interstellar dust impacting the Earth's upper atmosphere. This is literally dust from other stellar systems and small amounts of it are believed to reach Earth's upper atmosphere where it then burns up as a meteor leaving an ionization trail in its wake. By bouncing radar waves off this ionization trail we can measure the direction the particle was travelling when it encountered the Earth and hopefully identify stellar systems in our neighborhood
producing large dust grains."

Research Collaborations:

• 2002: Near-Earth Object Physical Studies, collaboration with University of Calgary, University of Victoria and Ondrejov Observatory, Czech Republic
• 2001-present: Infrasonic observations of fireballs, collaboration with
  Los Alamos National Laboratory
• 1999-present: ALTAIR Radar observations of head echoes, collaboration
  with MIT/Lincoln Labs
• 1999-present: Meteoroid environment definition, collaboration with
  NASA/MSFC
• 1997-2002: Observations of the Leonid Meteor Storm, collaboration with
  NASA/ Mount Allison University/ University of Regina

Why study in Canada?

"Canada is one of the best places in the world to do research. I think that
more than most governments, the various levels of government in Canada
realize that basic research is important to our economy and that is
reflected in the funding being made available to researchers. Having visited
(and lived) in other countries I am also convinced that Canada is among the
best places in the world to live - this goes along way in attracting top
researchers from other countries."

Interested in becoming an Astronomer?

"If you are interested in Astronomy, then stick with it. Many professional astronomers today (myself included) got started as amateur astronomers and this is a great way to build interest, contacts in the community and start the (never-ending) learning process. If you have a real passion for Astronomy, consider becoming an undergraduate in either physics or astronomy. This requires good math and analytic skills - for those who really enjoy this route, graduate studies are the next obvious avenue.

"There are also careers in Astronomy that do not necessarily require the heavy math skills some people find difficult; consider journalism and specialize in science/astronomy - there is an enormous need for excellent public communicators in Astronomy both in the print and broadcast media."

Related Links:

• Astronomy as a career
• Other Canadian Astronomer Profiles
• Notable Canadian Astronomers

   

  compiled by the CASCA education Webteam, (2008)