Professor Luke Drury

Senior Professor and Head of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Section

Professor Luke Drury

Senior Professor and Head of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Section
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+353-86-8228815
ld@cp.dias.ie

Biography

Born 22 June 1953 in Dublin, Ireland; nationality Irish.

Senior Professor and Head of the Astronomy and Astrophysics Section,
School of Cosmic Physics,
Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies,
31 Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2, IRELAND.

Education and Employment history

1953–1971: St Andrew’s NS, Lucan; Wesley College, Dublin
First place in the Aer Lingus Young Scientist of the Year competition, 1969.
Gold medal of the Irish Institute of Chemists 1971.
Louis Claude Purser entrance exhibition to Trinity College Dublin, 1971.

1971–1975: Trinity College Dublin
Townsend prize for Mathematics, 1972.
Elected foundation scholar in Mathematics, 1973.
Graduated BA (first class Moderatorship) 1975, in pure mathematics (gold medal) and experimental physics (FitzGerald medal).

1975–1979: University of Cambridge, England
Research studentship from Trinity College Cambridge, 1975 — 1978.
Studied at the Institute of Astronomy under the supervision of Dr. J. M. Stewart ,1975–1979.
Awarded Isaac Newton Studentship, 1978–1979.
PhD from the University of Cambridge for thesis Some Fluid Dynamical Problems in Astrophysics, 1979.

1979–1986: Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik, Heidelberg
Research Associate in the group of Prof. H. J. Voelk, 1979–1984.
Senior Research Associate, 1984–1986.
Co-investigator on the Photopolarimeter for the Infrared Space Observatory (ISOPHOT).

1986–Present: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies
Senior Professor in the School of Cosmic Physics and head of the then Cosmic Ray Section (now Astronomy and Astrophysics Section).
Honorary appointment as Andrews’ Professor of Astronomy in Trinity College Dublin,

1998—present. Visiting Professor in UCD, 2015.

Honours and Appointments

  • Awarded the Shakti P. Duggal Award at the 20th International Cosmic Ray Conference in Moscow, 1987, “in recognition of significant contributions to cosmic ray physics by a young scientist of outstanding ability”.
  • Member of the Royal Irish Academy’s National Committee for Astronomy,
    1987–1992; Space Research Committee,1987–1992; National Committee for Physics
    1992–1996 (Chairperson), 1996–2000.
  • International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) Commission on Cosmic Rays (C4); member 1990–1996, Vice-chairman 1996–2002.
  • Member of the European Space Agency’s Astronomy Working Group (AWG), 1991–1994.
  • Member of the Management Committee, Armagh Observatory, 1993–2006.
  • Elected to Membership of the Royal Irish Academy, 1995.
  • Member of the European Space Agency’s Space Science Advisory Committee (SSAC), 2002–2005.
  • Member of the Fachbeirat of the MPIK Heidelberg, 2002–2007
  • Elected Secretary for International Relations of the Royal Irish Academy, 2003–2006.
  • Elected to Membership of the Academia Europea, 2005.
  • Interim Director of Irish Centre for High-End Computing (ICHEC) June 2006 –February 2007.
  • Chairman of the interview panel for the NUI travelling studentships, 2007 and 2008.
  • Elected as President of the Royal Irish Academy, 2011-2014.
  • Chairman of the European Space Agency’s Astronomy Working Group (AWG), 2014-2016.
  • Member of the Scientific Steering Committee of PRACE, the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe, 2014-2017.
  • Irish representative on the EURO-ICSU management group, 2014 – present.
  • Coordinator and lead proposer on two national e-Infrastructure PRTLI projects, CosmoGrid (cycle 3, 12MEuro) and e-INIS (cycle 4, 12.5MEuro).
  • Co-ordinator and chair of the EU funded Centre of Excellence E-CAM 2015-2020
  • External reviewer for many funding agencies including NSF, STFC, CNRS etc.