Rob Thacker
Canada Research Chair in Computational Astrophysics, Saint Mary's University.
Last Contribution:
Why Spend on Space When Earth is in Turmoil?
Contributor Biography
Dr. Thacker is an astrophysicist, teacher, communicator, and all round big kid. After a brief flirtation with the corporate world at J. P. Morgan, he left his native land of England in 1994 to study for a Ph.D in physics at the University of Alberta.
In 2003, following postdoctoral positions at the University of California at Berkeley and McMaster University, he was awarded a National Fellowship of the Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) which he held at Queen's University. In the summer of 2007, he accepted an Associate Professorship and a Canada Research Chair in Computational Astrophysics at St. Mary's University.
He is a core member of the "Virgo Consortium," a research collaboration that is widely acknowledged as being the world leader in simulations of cosmic structure formation. Deeply interested in the “big picture” his current research focuses on the computational modelling of galaxy formation. Using massively parallel computing and multi-scale simulation algorithms, he is trying to understand how these vast structures form and evolve from 500,000 years after the Big Bang through to the present day.
A commitment to academic service has lead to him being appointed a Director of the Canadian Astronomical Society, and holding positions on the Compute Canada National Initiatives Committee and Planning and Advocacy Council. He also currently serves on the Advisory Council of CITA and is member of the Research Directorate of the ACEnet computing collaboration.
He is a passionate believer in the value of communicating science to a wider audience. With 2009 being the International Year of Astronomy, he has collaborated with amateur and professional astronomers alike to help bring the Universe down to Earth.
