Rachel Webster

Rachel Lindsey Webster AO FAA (born 3 July 1951), is an Australian astrophysicist who became the second female professor of physics in Australia. Her main focus areas are extragalactic astronomy and cosmology; she researches black holes and the first stars of the universe. Webster has a doctoral degree from Cambridge University and has held postdoctoral positions at the University of Toronto and University of Melbourne.

Rachel Webster
Alma mater
OccupationAstrophysicist 
Employer
Awards

Early life

Rachel Webster was born on 3 July 1951, in North East Victoria. She began her schooling at Tallangatta Primary School and then moved to Melbourne at the age of six, where she attended Blackburn South Primary School and later Presbyterian Ladies College in Melbourne.[1] Her father was an engineer and her mother a geography teacher; both encouraged Webster's interest in physics, science and mathematics from a young age. Webster was inspired to pursue astronomy after she attended a lecture at the University of Sydney in her final year of school. The lecture was on cosmology, presented by Robert May, one of Australia's most celebrated scientists.

Career

Webster graduated from Monash University in Melbourne in 1975 with a degree in astrophysics. However, let down by her experiences in the university,[2] Webster found herself within the Victorian Government's Public Works department, where she bought and sold real estate. After four years of success in that work, in her mid twenties Webster realised that she was not being completely fulfilled.[2] This lead her to write to Martin Rees, the head of astronomy at Cambridge University, who encouraged her to gain a master's degree in physics prior to being enrolled.[2] Webster completed an MSc at the University of Sussex in 1980 and, in 1985, completed her PhD on Gravitational Lensing and Cosmology at Cambridge University.[3][4] She then undertook a postdoctoral position at the University of Toronto focussing on the Einstein Cross, a gravitationally lensed quasar.[4]

In 1992, Rachel Webster returned to the University of Melbourne, where she received a grant for research related to the Parkes Quasar Survey.[5] She was primarily concerned with how galaxies bend light, known as gravitational lensing. Today, her research group uses equipment including the Australia Telescope Compact Array, the Gemini telescopes, the Hubble Telescope and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory.[6] Webster is a member of the International Consortium, helping to design a new low-frequency radio telescope, to be installed in Western Australia.[7] Webster's ultimate aim is to identify the first sources of the universe. This information is being uncovered via her studies and detection of reionised hydrogen atoms and the structural analysis of neutral hydrogen clouds. She has also conducted research into quasar emission regions, cosmology, the Murchison Widefield Array and dark matter.

Webster has been the chair of the National Committee of Astronomy and co-created a Women in Physics Program, which has helped increase the number of women graduating in physics at the University of Melbourne.[8]

Honors and awards
  • 2020 Officer of the Order of Australia[9]
  • 2017 Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science
  • 2010 Victorian Honour Roll of Women[1]
  • 2008 Member of the Royal Society of Victoria
  • 2007 Fellow of the Australian Institute of Physics[1]
  • 1998 Fellow of the International Astronomical Union[1]
  • 1997 Inaugural Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lecture [10]
  • 1988 Member of the American Astronomical Society

Webster is also President of Academic Board at The University of Melbourne and has been awarded the Robert Ellery Lectureship.

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References
  1. Judge, Astrid; Fitzpatrick, Jane, 1964- (2012), Heroes of Australian science, Macmillan Education, retrieved 23 November 2015CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. Lunn, Stephen (27 June 2009). "First Impressions: Rachel Webster". The Australian. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  3. "Prof Rachel Webster". Find an expert. University of Melbourne. Awards. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  4. "Prof. Rachel Webster – Research". University of Melbourne. 2017. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  5. Bhathal, Ragbir; Bhathal, Jenny (1 January 2006). Australian Backyard Astronomy. National Library Australia. ISBN 9780642276322.
  6. "Rachel Webster". The Conversation. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  7. "Prof Rachel Webster". Find an expert. University of Melbourne. Overview. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  8. "Where Do Big Ideas Come From". ABC. 17 July 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
  9. "Rachel Lindsey Webster, Media Notes, Officer (AO) in the General Division of The Order of Australia, Australia Day 2020 Honours List" (PDF). The Office of the Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia. 26 January 2020. p. 58. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  10. "Women in Physics Lecturer". Retrieved 23 November 2015.
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