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Professor Bryan Gaensler is a leading international researcher in cosmic magnetism, supernova explosions and interstellar gas. His research focuses on why the Universe is magnetic, as well as on the study of transient phenomenon as a unique probe of fundamental physics.
Before becoming Dunlap Institute director in January 2015, Gaensler was founding director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics (CAASTRO). He was also an Australian Laureate Fellow at the Sydney Institute for Astronomy within the School of Physics at The University of Sydney.
He has held research positions at MIT, the Smithsonian and Harvard, and did his postgraduate work at the University of Sydney and at CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility. In 1999, he was named Young Australian of the Year.
In addition to his research, Gaensler has made significant contributions to building long-term research capacity for observational astronomy. He has been deeply involved in the development and planning of the Square Kilometre Array which, when completed in twin locations in South Africa and Australia, will be the largest radio telescope ever built.
“I am thrilled to be taking up the directorship,” said Gaensler. “Dunlap is an institute with unique capacities and enormous potential. I’m excited by the prospect of developing new and innovative approaches to instrumentation, and combining this with the University of Toronto’s already impressive credentials in astronomy and astrophysics.”
Bryan served as director of the Dunlap Institute until June 2023. He is currently the dean of the Division of Physical and Biological Sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
Research
Email: bgaensler@dunlap.utoronto.ca
