Duncan Lorimer FRS
Professor
“My research interests are in the demographics of compact objects, particularly the populations of pulsars and fast radio bursts. With my students and colleagues, I seek to better understand the origin and evolution of neutron stars and fast radio bursts.”
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Biography
Duncan Lorimer currently holds the rank of Professor of Physics and Astronomy 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). From 2019 to 2024, he served the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences as Associate Dean for Research. 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. Lorimer was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2024.
Return to Listing