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Dr. John Antoniadis

John Antoniadis’s research focuses on using pulsars as laboratories to study fundamental physics. He is particularly interested in measuring the masses of millisecond pulsars and inferring the equation-of-state of dense nuclear matter. He also studies the impact of gravitational-wave emission on the orbits of binary pulsars.

He is also interested in binary evolution and uses observations of selected objects and theoretical simulations to study the formation of binary neutron stars.

At the Dunlap, Antoniadis will be working on pulsar scintellometry—a new observing method that seeks to use the interstellar medium as a giant telescope that will help us measure the properties of pulsars with extreme precision.

In addition, he was part of the team that discovered the most massive neutron star to date and has helped set some of the most stringent limits on deviations from General Relativity in the strong-field regime.

In 2016, Antoniadis was awarded a prestigious John C. Polanyi Prize in Physics for his research into neutron stars and other compact astronomical objects.

Other awards and prizes he has received include:

  • Otto Hahn Medal of the Max-Planck Society (2014)
  • Best PhD in Gravitational, Nuclear and Atomic physics from the German Physics Society (2013)
  • Best PhD, University of Bonn (2013)

Antoniadis received his PhD from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. He started at the Dunlap Institute in October 2014 and left in October 2017 to join the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.

In April 2018,  Antoniadis was interviewed about the role the Dunlap and U of T played in advancing her career:

What were the highlights of your stay at the Dunlap Institute?

As a Dunlap Fellow, I enjoyed exploring new research ideas, but also having the opportunity to work with novel instruments. I also appreciated coordinating the Summer Undergraduate Research Program and working with colleagues from both the Dunlap and the U of T’s Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics.

What drew you to UofT and the Dunlap?

When I first heard about the Institute and the Dunlap Fellowship, I thought  it would be a great opportunity to work closely with long-time collaborators and get some hands-on experience on astronomical instrumentation. In retrospect, the most attractive part of working at Dunlap was having the freedom and the means to pursue my own scientific interests and develop as an independent scientist.

How was your stay at the Dunlap helpful in your advancement into your current position?

Being able to develop and be recognized as an independent scientist, and developing some key administrative skills certainly played an important role in advancing to my current position.

As an organization, what would you say are the Dunlap’s strengths?

Dunlap has all the components that make a scientific organization stand out. Great talent and people, great vision and great management. Over the past few years, Dunlap has rapidly evolved into one of the most important hubs for astronomical research in North America. Certainly the best is  yet to come!