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Dunlap Institute Fellow Luke Pratley has been awarded the Michael Penston RAS Thesis Prize and the IAU PhD prize for his PhD thesis, ”Radio Astronomy Image Reconstruction in the Big Data Era.”
His passion for astronomy started with a love of math and physics. As he continued through graduate studies, he found his passion for astronomical research and radio astronomy.
The team at Dunlap caught up with Pratley (remotely!) to learn more about his amazing work.
Congratulations on your awards! Tell us a bit about how you first became interested in astronomy, and how you got from that point to where you are now.
I first became interested in Physics and Astronomy during high school. I wasn’t a gifted student, but I figured I had nothing to lose by spending my time on something meaningful. I spent a lot of time at university learning the basics and making sure I would learn how to get to the right answer after getting it wrong. After you start to know the basics intuitively, everything is just a bit extra on top. This set a solid foundation of mathematics and physics, which is critical for research in astrophysics.
I got the opportunity to try research in astrophysics during my undergraduate in New Zealand. This was where I found that it was exciting to be able to take skills and subjects that I was learning to make a new discovery about the Universe. The idea of nothing to lose gave me the freedom to explore new ideas. I found being able to connect the dots between different areas of research is what I enjoy most. I then did my MSc in Theoretical Condensed Matter physics, which I enjoyed but I felt there were more opportunities for me in astronomy. This lead to my PhD at University College London, where I could apply the mathematics of new signal reconstruction methods to radio telescopes. My undergraduate experience was critical, because I could take my knowledge of radio data and bridge the gap with new mathematical techniques.
After taking a combination of physics lab courses and philosophy of science courses that discuss how professional scientists do science, I was really interested in experiencing a side of science that typical undergraduate programs don’t offer – independent research! I think research is something that a lot of students don’t know that much about, because it isn’t really explained in courses. My professor in a “History of Cosmology” course actually encouraged me to apply after I discovered that I’m really interested in the history of the Universe – and I’m so glad that he did!
You won two prestigious awards for your thesis – can you summarize that work for us non-astronomers?
Tell us a bit about your current research.
I’ve been working with Prof. Ue-Li Pen to investigate how to detect 21cm spectral line signals that will map the large scale structure of our Universe and answer questions in cosmology. I am looking at how these methods can then be applied ultra-wide-field telescopes like the CHIME and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescopes. I am also working with Prof. Bryan Gaensler to apply signal reconstruction techniques to cosmic magnetism, which can be used to then identify the impact of magnetic fields in our Universe. This will be needed for telescopes such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and ASKAP.
What’s next for you?
