Martin, Peter G.

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Astronomy

Peter Gordon Martin is a professor and former chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He was educated at the University of Toronto (BSc 1968, MSc 1969) and at Cambridge (PhD 1972), and joined the Department of Astronomy that year (Assistant Professor 1972, Associate Professor 1976, Full Professor 1980). In the 1980's, along with Professor Richard Henriksen (Queen's University), he worked tirelessly to establish the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA). He became its first faculty member in 1984, and served as its Acting or Associate Director three times. CITA is now regarded as one of the foremost institutes of its kind in the world. He served as Chair of the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics from 1999 to 2010, and Director of the David Dunlap Observatory (DDO) from 1999 to 2008. During this term, he worked with the University and the Dunlap family to establish the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (DI), from the proceeds of the sale of the DDO to a developer, and he served as Interim Director of the DI for two years.

His research deals with the interstellar medium, the gas and dust between the stars. He observes this with a wide variety of telescopes on the ground and in space. He was deeply involved in the Canadian Galactic Plane Survey, which used the telescopes of the Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory, among others. More recently, he has used the Herschel and Planck space telescopes, and is involved in the planning for the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to Hubble. He has also participated actively in Canada's program of unique, balloon-borne stratospheric telescopes. He and his students have also carried out theoretical studies of interstellar atoms and molecules and, for a time, he actively collaborated with the Department of Chemistry. He is the author of Cosmic Dust (Oxford, 1979). His honours include the C.S. Beals Award of the Canadian Astronomical Society in 1994, and election to the Royal Society of Canada in 2007, the citation for which reads as follows: “Peter G. Martin is one of Canada's most distinguished astrophysical leaders and mentors. He is universally recognized as a major world figure in studies of the physics and chemistry of the interstellar medium. He has made fundamental contributions to our understanding of cosmic dust, interstellar light propagation, and the complex Galactic ecosystem in which stars are born and die. He led a massive theoretical effort to compute essential and widely-used hydrogen molecule reaction rates for star and planet formation. He plays a defining role in many major ISM observing campaigns, including the unique Canadian survey of the Galactic plane.” He served as President of the Canadian Astronomical Society in 2006-2008 and, at the end of his term, he generously endowed the Peter G. Martin Award, given to an outstanding mid-career Canadian astronomer. He has fulfilled numerous other administrative, advisory, and planning roles, both within the University, and within the scientific community.

References

http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/~pgmartin/

http://www.cita.utoronto.ca/index.php/News/CITA-Professor-Peter-Martin-Elected-to-Royal-Society-of-Canada

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