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Duncan Lorimer

Eberly College Associate Dean for Research; Professor

Astronomy

Biography
Duncan Lorimer currently holds the rank of Professor of Physics and Astronomy and serves as Associate Dean for External Research Development in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University (WVU). After graduating with a BSc in Astrophysics from the University of Wales in Cardiff in 1990, where he was mentored by Prof. Bernard Schutz, Lorimer got his PhD in 1994 for his contributions to Pulsar Astronomy from the University of Manchester in the UK working under the supervision of Profs. Andrew Lyne, Dick Manchester and Matthew Bailes. Since then he has held positions at the University of Manchester (Lecturer; 1994-5); the Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy (Postdoctoral Fellow; 1995-8); Cornell University (Postdoctoral Fellow; 1998-2001); University of Manchester (Royal Society Research Fellow; 2001-6) and at WVU (Faculty; 2006-present). While at WVU, Lorimer has received a Cottrell Scholar Award (2008) from the Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement and has received both College and University awards for excellence in teaching (2009, 2010) and for research as a Benedum Scholar (2019). Lorimer has been a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society since 1994 and in 2018 was named a Fellow of the American Physical Society in recognition of his contributions to our understanding of pulsars, and for the discovery of fast radio bursts. In 2023, he was the co-recipient of the Shaw Prize in Astronomy along with Maura McLaughlin and Matthew Bailes for the discovery of fast radio bursts.

Visit the WVU Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology.