Elizabeth J. Tasker (born 12 July 1980) is a British astrophysicist, science writer and Associate Professor at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. She wrote The Planet Factory, which was published by Bloomsbury in 2017.
Elizabeth Tasker | |
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| Born | Elizabeth J. Tasker July 12, 1980 |
| Alma mater | Durham University (MSci) University of Oxford (DPhil) |
| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Florida Columbia University McMaster University Hokkaido University JAXA |
| Thesis | Numerical simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies (2005) |
| Website | elizabethtasker |
Bildung
Tasker studied theoretical physics at Durham University and graduated in 2002.[1] She moved to the University of Oxford for her doctoral studies, working under the supervision of Greg Bryan.[2] She completed her thesis Numerical simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies in 2005.[2]
Career and research
Tasker joined Columbia University as a postdoctoral research assistant, where she worked on simulations of star formation that incorporated feedback from supernovae.[3] She has investigated whether stellar feedback results in the death of Giant Molecular Clouds.[4] She spent three years at the University of Florida as the Theoretical Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellow, before moving to McMaster University as a CITA National Fellow in 2009.[5]
Tasker's research investigates how stars form in disc galaxies using computer simulations.[6] She looks at how galaxy structure impacts the formation of stars, and how star formation drives galaxy evolution.[6] She has argued for the need to evaluate the language around exoplanet ranking metrics.[7] She joined Hokkaido University as an international tenure-track academic in 2011.[6] She won the Hokkaido University President’s Award for Education in 2014, 2015 and 2016.[citation needed] She was appointed to JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, as an associate professor in 2016,[8][9] working on hydrodynamical models of star and planet formation.[9][10]
Science communication
Tasker is also a popular science writer. In 1999 she won The Daily Telegraph Young Science Writers Award.[8] She has written for Scientific American, How It Works, Space.com, The Conversation and Astronomy.[11][12][13][14] She has presented popular science lectures at the Communicating Astronomy with the Public conference, the Royal Institution and American Museum of Natural History.[15][16][17] In 2015, Tasker presented How Did We Begin at TEDx Hokkaido University.[18] She has spoken about the work of the Earth-Life Science Institute to the general public.[19]
The Planet Factory
In 2017 Bloomsbury Publishing released Tasker's first book, The Planet Factory.[20] The book was described as "brilliantly written" by Physics World[21] and "splendidly readable and authoritative" by Caleb Scharf.[20]
References
- ^ "Curriculum Vitae". Elizabeth Tasker. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ a b Tasker, Elizabeth (2005). Numerical simulations of the formation and evolution of galaxies. researchgate.net (DPhil thesis). University of Oxford. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.424719. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ Tasker, Elizabeth J.; Bryan, Greg L. (2006). "Simulating Star Formation and Feedback in Galactic Disk Models". The Astrophysical Journal. 641 (2): 878–890. arXiv:astro-ph/0512027. Bibcode:2006ApJ...641..878T. doi:10.1086/500567. ISSN 0004-637X.
- ^ Tasker, Elizabeth J.; Wadsley, James; Pudritz, Ralph (2015). "Star Formation in Disk Galaxies. III. Does stellar feedback result in cloud death?". The Astrophysical Journal. 801 (1): 33. arXiv:1501.00277. Bibcode:2015ApJ...801...33T. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/801/1/33. ISSN 1538-4357.
- ^ "Elizabeth Tasker: The Planet Factory | Ada's Technical Books". seattletechnicalbooks.com. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ a b c "Elizabeth TASKER » Office of Promotion and Standardization of the Tenure-Track System | 北海道大学". tenure-track.cris.hokudai.ac.jp. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ Tasker, Elizabeth; Tan, Joshua; Heng, Kevin; Kane, Stephen; Spiegel, David; the ELSI Origins Network Planetary Diversity Workshop; Brasser, Ramon; Casey, Andrew; Desch, Steven (2017). "The language of exoplanet ranking metrics needs to change". Nature Astronomy. 1 (2): 0042. arXiv:1708.01363. Bibcode:2017NatAs...1E..42T. doi:10.1038/s41550-017-0042. ISSN 2397-3366.
- ^ a b "Elizabeth Tasker Bloomsbury profile". bloomsbury.com. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ a b 宇宙科学専攻, 総合研究大学院大学 物理科学研究科. "Faculty Staff | Solar system science". Department of Space and Astronautical Science, SOKENDAI. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ "タスカー エリザベス | 研究教育職員". 宇宙科学研究所 (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ April 1, Elizabeth Tasker |; ET, 2016 08:00am. "If Hitomi is Lost, What Science is Lost With It? (Op-Ed)". Space.com. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Tasker, Elizabeth. "Let's Lose the Term "Habitable Zone" for Exoplanets". Scientific American Blog Network. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ Gorman, Christine. "Surprising New Finds from Ancient Egyptian Star Charts [Slide Show]". Scientific American. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ "Elizabeth Tasker". The Conversation. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ "Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2018" (PDF). CAP. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ O'brien, Brendan (2017-03-26). "Astrophiz 30: Dr Elizabeth Tasker debunks 'Earth2.0' in Trappist-1 system + Dr Ian Musgrave 'What's Up Doc?'". Astrophiz. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ "A planet not our own". rigb.org. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ TEDx Talks, How Did We Begin? | Elizabeth Tasker | TEDxHokkaidoU, retrieved 2019-01-19
- ^ NASA Astrobiology, Space Dust to Sentience: Dr. Elizabeth Tasker, retrieved 2019-01-19
- ^ a b "The Planet Factory: Exoplanets and the Search for a Second Earth". Bloomsbury. Retrieved 2019-01-19.
- ^ "How to build a planet". Physics World. 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2019-01-19.