Charles R. Alcock

Charles Roger Alcock
Born	1951 Windsor, England
Fields	Astrophysics
Institutions	Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Smithsonian Institution
Alma mater	California Institute of Technology
Known for	Massive compact halo objects
Notable awards	NAS: Astronomy (2001]) Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize (2000) AAS: E.O. Lawrence Award (1996)

Charles Roger Alcock (born 1951) is a British born American astronomer. He is the current director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Born in in Windsor, Berkshire, England, Alcock earned his Ph.D. in astronomy and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1977. He began his career as long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey (1977–1981). He was associate professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1981–1986) before joining Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (1986–2000), where he directed the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics.

Alcock was previously the Reese W. Flower Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania. His primary research interests are massive compact halo objects, comets and asteroids. He is the principal investigator for the Taiwan American Occultation Survey, a project aimed at taking a census of the Solar System's population of Kuiper Belt objects (objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune).

In 2001, Alcock was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences. He received the 2000 Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize from the American Astronomical Society and the 1996 E.O. Lawrence Award in physics. ^[1] Both awards recognized his pioneering work as principal investigator on the major U.S. project to search for massive compact halo objects and estimate their contribution to the dark matter component of the Milky Way's galactic halo. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2006.^[2]

Alcock joined the Center for Astrophysics in August 2004. As director, he oversees an annual federal budget of $111 million, and a staff of approximately 540 Smithsonian employees (as well as visitors, fellows and students) and 130 Harvard faculty, employees, visiting scientists and graduate students.

References

1. ^ "Charles Roger Alcock, 1996". The Earnest Orlando Lawrence Award. U.S. Department of Energy. http://www.science.doe.gov/lawrence/html/Laureates/1990s/charlesr.htm. Retrieved 15 April 2011. 
2. ^ "Book of Members, 1780-2010: Chapter A". American Academy of Arts and Sciences. http://www.amacad.org/publications/BookofMembers/ChapterA.pdf. Retrieved 14 April 2011. 

External links

• Laboratory Physicist Wins Prestigious E.O. Lawrence Award
• Center for Astrophysics (CfA) – Home Page
• Charles Alcock – CfA Website
• Taiwan American Occultation Survey

Persondata
Name	Alcock, Charles R.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1951
Place of birth	Windsor, England
Date of death
Place of death