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| Alison Young (astronomer) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Alison Young |
| Fields | Astronomy, Astrophysics |
Alison Young (astronomer) is a British observational astronomer and professor known for work on time-domain astronomy, stellar variability, and exoplanet detection. She has held positions at leading institutions and contributed to surveys and instruments that intersect with observatories, space agencies, and international collaborations.
Born and raised in the United Kingdom, Young completed undergraduate studies at University of Cambridge and doctoral research at University of Oxford under supervision connected with projects at European Southern Observatory facilities. During graduate training she collaborated with scientists at Royal Observatory, Edinburgh, Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge, and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory while engaging with instrumentation efforts related to Very Large Telescope and Hubble Space Telescope science programs. Her postdoctoral appointments included fellowships at Max Planck Institute for Astronomy and associations with consortia linked to Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Pan-STARRS.
Young's career spans roles at university departments and national laboratories including appointments at University College London, University of Warwick, and advisory positions for the European Space Agency and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. She contributed to time-series photometry pipelines for surveys such as Kepler mission, TESS, and ground-based networks like Las Cumbres Observatory and Zwicky Transient Facility. Her instrumentation work intersected with teams at European Southern Observatory on adaptive optics units and with engineers from Jet Propulsion Laboratory on detector calibration. She has supervised doctoral students connected to projects funded by the Science and Technology Facilities Council and collaborated with faculty at California Institute of Technology, Princeton University, and University of California, Berkeley.
Young made influential contributions to characterization of stellar rotation, asteroseismology, and eclipsing binary analyses applied to exoplanet host stars. Using data from Kepler mission, TESS, and Gaia she refined stellar age estimates, benchmarked gyrochronology relations, and constrained planetary radii in systems observed by HARPS and HIRES. She led analyses that identified rare classes of variable stars discovered by Pan-STARRS and the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae and contributed to discoveries of transiting exoplanets validated with follow-up from European Southern Observatory spectrographs and the Gemini Observatory. Her methodological advances in detrending and transit detection influenced pipelines used in Exoplanet Archive catalogs and in studies affiliated with the Royal Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.
Young's work has been recognized by prizes and fellowships from bodies including the Royal Society, the European Research Council, and the Royal Astronomical Society. She has been elected a fellow of a national academy and received grants from the Science and Technology Facilities Council and philanthropic awards tied to the Kavli Foundation and the Simons Foundation. Her leadership roles have included membership on committees for the European Southern Observatory Science Advisory Committee and program chair positions for meetings organized by the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.
- Young, A.; co-authors. High-precision photometry of stellar rotation in Kepler field. Journal article with data sets from Kepler mission, Gaia, and Sloan Digital Sky Survey collaborations. - Young, A.; co-authors. Validation of transiting exoplanets using ground-based spectroscopy from European Southern Observatory and Gemini Observatory. - Young, A.; co-authors. Asteroseismic constraints on stellar ages combining Kepler mission and TESS photometry. - Young, A.; co-authors. Pipeline improvements for time-domain surveys: applications to Pan-STARRS and Zwicky Transient Facility data. - Young, A.; co-authors. Characterization of eclipsing binaries and implications for gyrochronology; cross-matched with Gaia parallaxes and Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry.
Young has actively communicated astronomy through public lectures at institutions such as Royal Institution, festival appearances at Cheltenham Science Festival, media interviews on BBC Radio 4 and BBC News, and popular science articles for outlets affiliated with the Royal Astronomical Society and the European Southern Observatory. She has collaborated with planetarium teams at Royal Observatory Greenwich and education programs at Science Museum, London and has participated in citizen science initiatives coordinated with Zooniverse and educational partnerships with European Space Agency outreach.
Category:British astronomers Category:Women astronomers