Charlene Heisler
Charlene Heisler | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 December 1961 |
| Died | 28 October 1999 (aged 37) |
| Alma mater | University of Calgary, Yale University |
| Scientific career | |
| Thesis | Galaxies with Spectral Energy Distributions Peaking at 60 Microns: Morphology and Activity Explained by Interactions. |
Charlene Heisler (1 December 1961 – 28 October 1999) was a Canadian astronomer. She is best known for her work on Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN). The Astronomical Society of Australia created the Charlene Heisler Prize in her honour.
Early life and education
Charlene Heisler was born in
Calgary Centennial Planetarium.[1] Before starting her PhD, Heisler was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and was informed by her doctor she would not live more than two years and that she should abandon her PhD studies.[1][2] However, she went on to live 8 more years and she completed her PhD at Yale under the supervision of Jeanette Patricia Vader in 1991.[1][2] The focus of her thesis was on the properties of galaxies with spectral energy distributions that peaked at sixty microns, referred to as "Sixty Micron Peakers".[2]
Research and career
Heisler spent two years as a post doctoral researcher at
broad line regions that are only visible in polarised light.[5][1] Heisler and her team thought this was due to a link between the infrared colour of the galaxy and the broad line region existing. This led to a model where Seyfert II galaxies which were known to have hidden broad line regions galaxies being modelled as normal Seyfert galaxies with symmetry axes along the line-of-sight.[1] Her last major project was COLA (COmpact Low-power AGN) with Phil Appleton and Ray Norris which aimed to establish if there was evidence that AGN activity was associated with starburst activity.[1][2]
After her death, the Astronomical Society of Australia created the Charlene Heisler Prize which is awarded annually to the most outstanding PhD thesis in the field of astronomy at an Australian university.[6]
Notable publications
- Charlene A Heisler; Stuart L Lumsden; Jeremy A Bailey. (February 1997). "Visibility of scattered broad-line emission in Seyfert 2 galaxies". Nature. 385(6618): 700–702. doi: 10.1038/385700a0
- Charlene A Heisler, Patricia J Vader. (January 1994). "Galaxies with Spectral Energy Distributions Peaking Near 60microns II. Optical Broadband Properties". Astronomical Journal. 107: 35. doi: 10.1086/116834
- Charlene A Heisler, Patricia J Vader. (July 1995). "Galaxies with Spectral Energy Distributions Peaking Near 60 micron.III. H(alpha) Imaging". Astronomical Journal. 110: 87. doi: 10.1086/117499
- Charlene A Heisler, Michael M De Robertis. (November 1999). "A Near-Infrared Spectroscopic Study of 60 Micron Peakers". Astronomical Journal. 118(5): 2038–2054. doi: 10.1086/301073
- Charlene A Heisler, Michael M De Robertis, D Nadeau. (May 1996). "Near-infrared surface photometry of `Sixty Micron Peaker' galaxies". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 280(2): 579–615. doi: 10.1093/mnras/280.2.579
References
- ^ Bibcode:2000BAAS...32.1668N.
- ^ ISSN 1323-3580.
- ISSN 0035-8711.
- S2CID 119714030.
- S2CID 4343933.
- ^ "Charlene Heisler Prize | Astronomical Society of Australia". Retrieved 12 February 2022.
