PROFESSOR, DEPT. OF PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
DIRECTOR, ORIGINS INSTITUTE
McMASTER UNIVERSITY
1280 MAIN ST W, HAMILTON, ONTARIO, CANADA, L8S 4M1
905.525.9140 x23180    pudritz@physics.mcmaster.ca
Professor
Director, Origins Institute

Department of Physics and Astronomy
McMaster University
Hamilton, ON
L8S 4M1

Office: ABB-318

Phone: (905) 525-9140 x23180
FAX: (905) 546-1252
E-mail: pudritz@physics.mcmaster.ca
Research Area:Astronomy & Astrophysics

News - McMaster professor to join JHU Society of Scholars

I am a theoretical astrophysicist and my research focuses on star and planet formation. I completed my undergraduate studies at UBC in mathematics and physics. I then moved to the University of Toronto for my M. Sc. (in theoretical physics). I returned to UBC to do my Ph.D. in astrophysics under the supervision of Greg Fahlman, completing it in 1980. I took up an NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge (England). I went on to further postdoctoral research with Chris McKee and Jon Arons at the Astronomy Dept. at Berkeley, and with Colin Norman at the Johns Hopkins University. I joined the faculty at McMaster in 1986. Research Leaves and Fellowships over the subsequent years have taken me to many outstanding research centres including the Observatoire de Grenoble (1988, 1992), the Max-Planck Inst. for Astronomy in Heidelberg (1993), the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (1993), the Max-Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich (1997), the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) in Toronto (1990 and 1997), Caltech (2001), and the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) in Santa Barbara (2007/08).

 

 

I have been involved in many aspects of Canadian as well as international astronomy and astrophysics, having served on Time Allocation Committees (CFHT and JCMT), NRC Science Advisory Committees (Gemini, JWST), Visiting Committees (U.S. NRAO), Advisory Boards (HIA, CITA Council), and review committees. I chaired Canada's decadal survey of Astronomy and Astrophysics - the NRC-NSERC Long Range Planning Panel (1998/2000) - and was the principal author of the LRP report; "The Origins of Structure in the Universe". The LRP is playing the central role in guiding the development of Canadian astronomy in this decade and beyond, having involved Canada in ALMA, JWST, TMT, SKA, and several other important space and ground based telescopes and observatories.

Most recently, I spear-headed and am the founding (2004) Director of McMaster's Origins Institute (OI). Its scientific mission is to engage in fundamental transdisciplinary research on the origin of structure and life in the cosmos. The scientific themes of the OI cover 6 broad themes in science: the origin of space and time (cosmology, early universe), structure in the universe (planets, stars and galaxies), the elements, life (astrobiology), species and biodiversity, and humanity. In addition to its research foci, the OI has developed a novel OI Undergraduate Research specialization. The OI is committed to public outreach and education through its award winning OI Public Lecture series and played an important role in the creation of the McMaster 3D theatre. The OI has also run major international annual scientific conferences on some of the most important questions in contemporary science.

 
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