Anna Watts

Education

Watts was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School.[4] She studied Physics at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class degree from the University of Oxford in 1995.[5] She entered the science stream at the Ministry of Defence on a graduate scheme, where she worked for five years.[5] Watts completed her PhD[2] in physics supervised by Nils Andersson (physicist) in the general relativity group researching neutron stars.[5][6]

Career and research

After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center.[6][7] She then received a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.[6][8] In 2008 Watts joined the Anton Pannekoek Institute.[4]

Watts looks to understand the physics behind the violent dynamic events that occur on neutron stars. These include magnetic flares, thermonuclear explosions, and starquakes.[9] Her research lies at the intersection of theoretical physics and astrophysics. Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes.[10] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions.[11]

She is involved in the development future high-energy space telescopes.[9] Watts is part of the science team for the NASA probe Strobe-X.[12] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group.[13][14] She is also chair of Network 3 for NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy.[15] She served on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology committee.[16] Watts has contributed to Times Higher Education and Vice.[17][18]

References
  1. Anna Watts publications indexed by Google Scholar
  2. Watts, Anna Louise (2003). The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars. soton.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Southampton. OCLC 500094585. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.432636.
  3. Turolla, R; Zane, S; Watts, A L (2015). "Magnetars: the physics behind observations. A review". Reports on Progress in Physics. 78 (11): 116901. arXiv:1507.02924. doi:10.1088/0034-4885/78/11/116901. ISSN 0034-4885.
  4. Wijngaarden, Evert Rol, Martin Heemskerk, David Hendriks, Timo Halbesma, Marcella. "API - Alumus - Dr. Anna Watts". api-alumni.nl. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  5. Woods, Karen. "Dr Anna Watts" (PDF). University of Southampton. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  6. "Anna Watts, Mathematical Sciences". southampton.ac.uk. University of Southampton. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  7. "NASA - NASA Sees Hidden Structure of Neutron Star in Starquake". nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  8. "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  9. Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "dr. A.L. (Anna) Watts - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  10. "MPA :: Current Research Highlight :: May 2006". wwwmpa.mpa-garching.mpg.de. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  11. Amsterdam, Universiteit van. "ERC Starting Grants awarded to Faculty of Science researchers - University of Amsterdam". uva.nl. Archived from the original on 2018-03-17. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  12. "The STROBE-X Team". nasa.gov. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  13. "WG4 - Observatory Science". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  14. "WG1 - Dense Matter". isdc.unige.ch. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  15. "72nd Netherlands Astronomy Conference". astronomenclub.nl. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  16. "COST | The multi-messenger physics and astrophysics of neutron stars - Management Committee". cost.eu. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  17. "Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, by Neil deGrasse Tyson". Times Higher Education (THE). 2017-06-08. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
  18. "For Female Astronomers, Sexual Harassment Is a Constant Nightmare". Broadly. 2016-04-07. Retrieved 2018-03-16.
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