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John Johnson (astronomer)

January 01, 1970

John Asher Johnson (4 January 1977) is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at Harvard. He is the first tenured African-American physical science professor in the history of the university. Johnson is well known for discovering three of the first known planets smaller than the Earth outside of the solar system, including the first Mars-sized exoplanet.

John Johnson
Johnson at the 2012 Cool Stars Meeting in Barcelona
Born
John Asher Johnson

(1977-01-04) January 4, 1977 (age 47)
Albuquerque, New Mexico
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Alma materMissouri University of Science and Technology
University of California at Berkeley
Known forExoplanet research
AwardsSloan Fellowship (2012)
Newton Lacy Pierce Prize (2012)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsCalifornia Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Doctoral advisorGeoffrey Marcy
WebsiteHarvard Astronomy page
The Johnson ExoLab

Early life and education edit

Johnson grew up in St. Louis. He graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla (since renamed the Missouri University of Science and Technology) in 1999 with a Bachelors of Science degree in physics. In-between his undergraduate degree and graduate school, he also worked as a research scientist with LIGO at Caltech. He entered graduate school at UC Berkeley having never taken a course in astronomy. Johnson completed his Ph.D. in astrophysics in 2007 under Geoff Marcy. His thesis was titled "Planet Hunting In New Stellar Domains" and included the detection of several unusual hot Jupiters.[1][2][3][4][5]

Scientific career edit

Johnson is currently a professor of astronomy at Harvard, where he is one of several professors who study exoplanets along with David Charbonneau, Dimitar Sasselov, and others.[6] When he was appointed to this position in 2013, he became the first tenured African-American professor in any of the physical sciences at the university.[7] He was formerly a professor at the California Institute of Technology and a researcher with NASA's Exoplanet Science Research Institute. Before attaining a faculty job, Johnson was a National Science Foundation (NSF) post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy, a part of the University of Hawaiʻi.

Research edit

Johnson does research on the detection and characterization of exoplanets, that is, planets located outside the solar system.[8] His work involves planets detected with a variety of methods. He is a founding principal investigator of the Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array (MINERVA), a ground-based robotic telescope array that searches for exoplanets primarily through the radial velocity method while also looking for transits.[9] More related to transiting planets, Johnson has worked on precisely measuring the properties of planet-hosting stars found with the Kepler mission, a vital task for determining the properties of the planets themselves.[10] He is also involved with K2, the successor to the original Kepler mission.[11]

In 2012, Johnson's team discovered three small rocky exoplanets in a red dwarf star system observed with the Kepler space telescope.[12] The system was renamed Kepler-42 and the outermost planet was found to be nearly as small as Mars, making it the smallest known exoplanet at the time.[13] A subsequent study used the host star's similarity to Barnard's Star and observations from the Keck Observatory to more precisely measure the properties of the system, including the sizes of the three planets.[14]

Diversity initiatives edit

Johnson is the founder of the Banneker Institute, a summer program hosted at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.[15] The program provides funding for undergraduate students from backgrounds underrepresented in astronomy, with a focus on students of color. It has merged with a similar program into the joint Banneker & Aztlán Institute, which also targets Latin and Native American students. In addition to research, the institute emphasizes discussions on social justice issues and their relevance in the field of astronomy.[16]

References edit

  1. ^ "Black History Month - Profile of a Scientist". NASA. February 2017. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  2. ^ "John Asher Johnson" (PDF). National Science Foundation. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Intelligence in Astronomy: The Growth of My Intelligence". Mahalo.ne.trash. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  4. ^ Johnson, John Asher (2007). "Planet hunting in new stellar domains". The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System. Bibcode:2007PhDT.........7J.
  5. ^ "About the Speakers of AbGradCon 2012". AbGradCon. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  6. ^ "John Asher Johnson". Harvard Magazine. 2013-12-16. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  7. ^ "'Party of One': Diversity and Isolation in Harvard's Faculty". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  8. ^ Dawson, Rebekah I.; Johnson, John Asher (14 September 2018). "Origins of Hot Jupiters". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 56 (1): 175–221. arXiv:1801.06117. Bibcode:2018ARA&A..56..175D. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-081817-051853. S2CID 119332976. Retrieved 5 April 2022.
  9. ^ "A dedicated Exoplanet Oservatory". Harvard. 3 February 2016. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  10. ^ "The California-Kepler Survey". California Kepler Survey. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  11. ^ "Kepler 'rising from the ashes'". The Harvard Gazette. 2014-12-18. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  12. ^ Philip S. Muirhead, John Asher Johnson, Kevin Apps, Joshua A. Carter, Timothy D. Morton, Daniel C. Fabrycky, J. Sebastian Pineda, Michael Bottom, Barbara Rojas-Ayala, Everett Schlawin, Katherine Hamren, Kevin R. Covey, Justin R. Crepp, Keivan G. Stassun, Joshua Pepper, Leslie Hebb, Evan N. Kirby, Andrew W. Howard, Howard T. Isaacson, Geoffrey W. Marcy, David Levitan, Tanio Diaz-Santos, Lee Armus, James P. Lloyd, « Characterizing the Cool KOIs III. KOI-961: A Small Star with Large Proper Motion and Three Small Planets » published in The Astrophysical Journal – arXiv:1201.2189v1.
  13. ^ Cowen, Ron (2012). "Three tiny exoplanets suggest Solar System not so special". Nature. doi:10.1038/nature.2012.9786. S2CID 120884022. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  14. ^ "Discovery of the Smallest Exoplanets: The Barnard's Star Connection". SpaceRef. 11 January 2012. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
  15. ^ Sokol, Joshua (August 23, 2016). "Why the Universe Needs More Black and Latino Astronomers". Smithsonian. Retrieved May 3, 2019.
  16. ^ "Harvard Astronomer, Institute Offer Support for Students of Color in Sciences". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved 8 May 2018.

External links edit

  • John Johnson's Research Group Page (The Johnson ExoLab at Harvard)
  • John Johnson's Personal Blog: Mahalo.ne.Trash
  • Black History Month Feature: Discussion With John Johnson
  • Dr. John Johnson – Exoplanetary science and Kepler Mission Update on YouTube (time 25:01 min.)

January 01, 1970
john, johnson, astronomer, john, asher, johnson, january, 1977, american, astrophysicist, professor, astronomy, harvard, first, tenured, african, american, physical, science, professor, history, university, johnson, well, known, discovering, three, first, know. John Asher Johnson 4 January 1977 is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at Harvard He is the first tenured African American physical science professor in the history of the university Johnson is well known for discovering three of the first known planets smaller than the Earth outside of the solar system including the first Mars sized exoplanet John JohnsonJohnson at the 2012 Cool Stars Meeting in BarcelonaBornJohn Asher Johnson 1977 01 04 January 4 1977 age 47 Albuquerque New MexicoNationalityAmericanCitizenshipUnited StatesAlma materMissouri University of Science and TechnologyUniversity of California at BerkeleyKnown forExoplanet researchAwardsSloan Fellowship 2012 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize 2012 Scientific careerFieldsAstronomyInstitutionsCalifornia Institute of TechnologyHarvard UniversityDoctoral advisorGeoffrey MarcyWebsiteHarvard Astronomy page The Johnson ExoLab Contents 1 Early life and education 2 Scientific career 2 1 Research 3 Diversity initiatives 4 References 5 External linksEarly life and education editJohnson grew up in St Louis He graduated from the University of Missouri at Rolla since renamed the Missouri University of Science and Technology in 1999 with a Bachelors of Science degree in physics In between his undergraduate degree and graduate school he also worked as a research scientist with LIGO at Caltech He entered graduate school at UC Berkeley having never taken a course in astronomy Johnson completed his Ph D in astrophysics in 2007 under Geoff Marcy His thesis was titled Planet Hunting In New Stellar Domains and included the detection of several unusual hot Jupiters 1 2 3 4 5 Scientific career editJohnson is currently a professor of astronomy at Harvard where he is one of several professors who study exoplanets along with David Charbonneau Dimitar Sasselov and others 6 When he was appointed to this position in 2013 he became the first tenured African American professor in any of the physical sciences at the university 7 He was formerly a professor at the California Institute of Technology and a researcher with NASA s Exoplanet Science Research Institute Before attaining a faculty job Johnson was a National Science Foundation NSF post doctoral fellow at the Institute for Astronomy a part of the University of Hawaiʻi Research edit Johnson does research on the detection and characterization of exoplanets that is planets located outside the solar system 8 His work involves planets detected with a variety of methods He is a founding principal investigator of the Miniature Exoplanet Radial Velocity Array MINERVA a ground based robotic telescope array that searches for exoplanets primarily through the radial velocity method while also looking for transits 9 More related to transiting planets Johnson has worked on precisely measuring the properties of planet hosting stars found with the Kepler mission a vital task for determining the properties of the planets themselves 10 He is also involved with K2 the successor to the original Kepler mission 11 In 2012 Johnson s team discovered three small rocky exoplanets in a red dwarf star system observed with the Kepler space telescope 12 The system was renamed Kepler 42 and the outermost planet was found to be nearly as small as Mars making it the smallest known exoplanet at the time 13 A subsequent study used the host star s similarity to Barnard s Star and observations from the Keck Observatory to more precisely measure the properties of the system including the sizes of the three planets 14 Diversity initiatives editJohnson is the founder of the Banneker Institute a summer program hosted at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard amp Smithsonian 15 The program provides funding for undergraduate students from backgrounds underrepresented in astronomy with a focus on students of color It has merged with a similar program into the joint Banneker amp Aztlan Institute which also targets Latin and Native American students In addition to research the institute emphasizes discussions on social justice issues and their relevance in the field of astronomy 16 References edit Black History Month Profile of a Scientist NASA February 2017 Retrieved 7 May 2018 John Asher Johnson PDF National Science Foundation Retrieved 8 May 2018 Intelligence in Astronomy The Growth of My Intelligence Mahalo ne trash Retrieved 8 May 2018 Johnson John Asher 2007 Planet hunting in new stellar domains The SAO NASA Astrophysics Data System Bibcode 2007PhDT 7J About the Speakers of AbGradCon 2012 AbGradCon Retrieved 8 May 2018 John Asher Johnson Harvard Magazine 2013 12 16 Retrieved 8 May 2018 Party of One Diversity and Isolation in Harvard s Faculty Harvard Crimson Retrieved 8 May 2018 Dawson Rebekah I Johnson John Asher 14 September 2018 Origins of Hot Jupiters Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics 56 1 175 221 arXiv 1801 06117 Bibcode 2018ARA amp A 56 175D doi 10 1146 annurev astro 081817 051853 S2CID 119332976 Retrieved 5 April 2022 A dedicated Exoplanet Oservatory Harvard 3 February 2016 Retrieved 2 April 2016 The California Kepler Survey California Kepler Survey Retrieved 8 May 2018 Kepler rising from the ashes The Harvard Gazette 2014 12 18 Retrieved 8 May 2018 Philip S Muirhead John Asher Johnson Kevin Apps Joshua A Carter Timothy D Morton Daniel C Fabrycky J Sebastian Pineda Michael Bottom Barbara Rojas Ayala Everett Schlawin Katherine Hamren Kevin R Covey Justin R Crepp Keivan G Stassun Joshua Pepper Leslie Hebb Evan N Kirby Andrew W Howard Howard T Isaacson Geoffrey W Marcy David Levitan Tanio Diaz Santos Lee Armus James P Lloyd Characterizing the Cool KOIs III KOI 961 A Small Star with Large Proper Motion and Three Small Planets published in The Astrophysical Journal arXiv 1201 2189v1 Cowen Ron 2012 Three tiny exoplanets suggest Solar System not so special Nature doi 10 1038 nature 2012 9786 S2CID 120884022 Retrieved 7 May 2018 Discovery of the Smallest Exoplanets The Barnard s Star Connection SpaceRef 11 January 2012 Retrieved 7 May 2018 Sokol Joshua August 23 2016 Why the Universe Needs More Black and Latino Astronomers Smithsonian Retrieved May 3 2019 Harvard Astronomer Institute Offer Support for Students of Color in Sciences The Harvard Crimson Retrieved 8 May 2018 External links editJohn Johnson s Research Group Page The Johnson ExoLab at Harvard John Johnson s Personal Blog Mahalo ne Trash Black History Month Feature Discussion With John Johnson Dr John Johnson Exoplanetary science and Kepler Mission Update on YouTube time 25 01 min Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title John Johnson astronomer amp oldid 1218233933, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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