Clare Burrage

Clare Burrage
Born
Clare Joanna Burrage
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge (PhD)
AwardsMaxwell Medal and Prize (2015)
Scientific career
FieldsDark energy
InstitutionsUniversity of Nottingham
DESY
University of Geneva
ThesisScalar Fields and the Accelerated Expansion of the Universe (2008)
Doctoral advisorAnne-Christine Davis
Websitewww.nottingham.ac.uk/physics/people/clare.burrage

Clare Joanna Burrage is a British particle physicist at the University of Nottingham. She has made significant contributions to dark energy research, using astrophysical probes and interferometry.

Early life and education

Burrage attributes her love of cosmology to driving past the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory as a child.[1] She attended Collingwood College, Surrey, achieving A-Levels in Mathematics, Further Mathematics and German.[2] She studied Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, earning a Masters in 2004 and Part III of the Mathematical Tripos in 2005.[2] Whilst a student, Burrage worked at Legoland Windsor Resort.[2] For her postgraduate research she joined Anne-Christine Davis in the Department of Applied Maths and Theoretical Physics, studying Scalar Fields and the Accelerated Expansion of the Universe.[3][4] She spotted signs of the elusive chameleon particle in the active galactic nucleus of Messier 87.[5]

Research and career

Burrage was appointed as a postdoctoral fellow in the theoretical physics group at DESY in 2008.[6] Whilst at DESY she found astrophysical evidence for axion-photon conversion.[7][8] She moved to the University of Geneva in 2010, working in cosmology. In 2011 Burrage was appointed the Anne McLaren Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham. Burrage uses observation of light from astrophysical sources to test for dark energy.[9] She was awarded a Royal Society research fellowship in 2013 and again in 2018.[10][11] She won the 2015 Institute of Physics Maxwell Medal and Prize.[1] Burrage works with the Centre for Cold Matter at Imperial College London, where she develops light-pulse atom interferometers to accelerate atoms for force sensing.[12] By combining astrophysical observations with atomic techniques, Burrage has provided the best constraints on the various ways dark energy can interact with matter.[9]

Public engagement

Burrage has taken part in several public engagement activities, including I'm a Scientist, Get Me Out of Here.[2] She was part of a pairing program with a member of parliament and has presented her work at the Palace of Westminster.[1] She has taken part in the Edinburgh International Festival and Hay Festival.[1] She was selected by the British Council to represent the UK in Science Alive in Hong Kong.[13][14] She has taken part in the award-winning physics video series Sixty Symbols.[15][16][17]

Burrage was interviewed by Morgan Freeman in season 2 of Through the Wormhole.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Physics, Institute of. "Award-winning early-career physicist is put in the spotlight". www.iop.org. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  2. ^ a b c d "Profile - Electromagnetic Zone". Electromagnetic Zone. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  3. ^ Burrage, Clare Joanna (2009). Scalar fields and the accelerated expansion of the universe. jisc.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University of Cambridge. OCLC 890152846. EThOS uk.bl.ethos.611090. Archived from the original on 2018-06-20. Retrieved 2018-06-20.
  4. ^ "Dr. Clare Burrage - AcademiaNet". www.academia-net.org. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  5. ^ Merali, Zeeya (2009-05-29). "Dark-energy particle spotted?". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2009.531. ISSN 0028-0836.
  6. ^ "Members of the Group". www.desy.de. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  7. ^ Burrage, Clare; Davis, Anne-Christine; Shaw, Douglas J. (2009-05-21). "Active Galactic Nuclei Shed Light on Axion-like-Particles". Physical Review Letters. 102 (20): 201101. arXiv:0902.2320. Bibcode:2009PhRvL.102t1101B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.201101. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 19519013. S2CID 34372894.
  8. ^ "Evidence mounts for axion-like particles – Physics World". Physics World. 2009-02-18. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  9. ^ a b Physics, Institute of. "2015 Maxwell medal and prize". www.iop.org. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  10. ^ "Clare Burrage". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  11. ^ "Clare Burrage". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  12. ^ "Searching for dark energy candidates using atom interferometry". Imperial College London. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  13. ^ "Dr Clare Burrage takes science to the dark side". Young Post | South China Morning Post. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  14. ^ "Science Alive 2016: Discover science in our daily lives | British Council". www.britishcouncil.hk. Retrieved 2018-06-12.
  15. ^ Sixty Symbols (2015-02-13), Shining Light Through Walls - Sixty Symbols, retrieved 2018-06-12
  16. ^ Sixty Symbols (2015-05-01), Chameleon Particles and Dark Energy - Sixty Symbols, retrieved 2018-06-12
  17. ^ Butterworth, Jon (2015-02-15). "Dark Matter: an Axion to grind? | Jon Butterworth | Life & Physics". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-06-12.