Sheila Rowan (physicist) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sheila Rowan
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Sheila Rowan at the Royal Society admissions day in London, July 2018
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| Born | 25 November 1969 Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland
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| Alma mater | University of Glasgow (BSc, PhD) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Institutions | University of Glasgow Stanford University |
| Thesis | Aspects of lasers for the illumination of interferometric gravitational wave detectors (1995) |
| Doctoral advisor | James Hough |
Sheila Rowan, born on November 25, 1969, is a brilliant Scottish scientist. She is a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. Since 2009, she has also led the Institute for Gravitational Research there.
Professor Rowan is famous for her important work in finding gravitational waves. These are ripples in space and time! In 2016, she also became the part-time Chief Scientific Advisor for the Scottish Government. This means she gave scientific advice to the government.
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Sheila Rowan's Early Life and Education
Sheila Rowan was born in Dumfries, Scotland, on November 25, 1969. She went to Maxwelltown High School in Dumfries. After high school, she studied physics at the University of Glasgow.
She earned her first degree, a Bachelor of Science (BSc), in 1991. Then, she continued her studies and received her Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in 1995. Her PhD research was all about gravitational waves. Her supervisor was a scientist named James Hough.
Sheila Rowan's Career in Science
After finishing her PhD, Professor Rowan worked in two places. She split her time between the University of Glasgow and Stanford University in the United States. Since 2003, she has worked only at the University of Glasgow. In 2006, she became a Professor of Experimental Physics.
Professor Rowan's research focuses on making special materials for gravitational wave detectors. She led a team that worked on a big international project called LIGO. LIGO stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory.
Detecting Gravitational Waves
In September 2015, the LIGO team made a huge discovery. They detected gravitational waves for the very first time! This was amazing because Albert Einstein had predicted these waves many years ago. Professor Rowan's work was a key part of this success.
In June 2016, Professor Rowan took on a new role. She became the part-time chief scientific advisor to the Scottish Government. She helped the government with scientific questions and advice. She left this role in June 2021.
After that, she became the President of the Institute of Physics. She started this important job on October 1, 2021.
Awards and Honours for Sheila Rowan
Professor Rowan has received many awards for her amazing work.
- In 2005, she won the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Astronomy and Astrophysics.
- She became a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2006.
- In 2008, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE).
- She became a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2012.
- In 2016, she received the Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize. This was for her pioneering research on the technology used in gravitational wave observatories.
- Also in 2016, Professor Rowan and her team won a special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. This was for their work on the first detection of gravitational waves.
- The Royal Society of Edinburgh also gave her and her team the President's Medal in 2016.
- In 2017, she won the Suffrage Science award.
- In July 2019, she was chosen to be the next president of the Institute of Physics. She started this role in October 2021.
- In 2020, she won the Sir Harold Hartley Medal. This award is for great contributions to measurement and control technology.
- She was also honored by the Queen! She was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2011. Then, in 2021, she was promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her services to science.
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