|
Leonid Gurvits recently commenced a six-month visit to
CASS under the CSIRO Distinguished Visitor program.
Leonid completed MSc degrees at the Moscow State University, Dept
of Astronomy, and Moscow Aviation Institute, Faculty of Aerospace
Engineering, both in 1979. A few years later, his PhD degree in
astrophysics was awarded by the Lebedev Physical Institute. From 1979
he worked at the Space Research Institute of the (then) USSR Academy
of Sciences, with the main assignment to the project that would later
become the Space VLBI project RadioAstron. From 1988 through 2003 he
served as the RadioAstron Project Scientist. In 1992--1994 Leonid was a
research fellow of the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center –
Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Since 1994 he has been based at the
Joint Institute for VLBI ERIC in Dwingeloo, the Netherlands, where he
leads the Space Science and Innovation Application Group. Leonid was
involved in the Japanese-led VSOP/HALCA Space VLBI project, and has been
working on the Space VLBI project RadioAstron in various capacities
for its entire 40 year history. Leonid's main science interests
lie in extragalactic radio astrophysics and cosmology, as well as
applications of VLBI technique in planetary and space science. Leonid
is Professor at the Department of Astrodynamics and Space Missions of
the Delft University of Technology. Since 2017, Leonid is a Vice-Chair
of the Joint Working Group on History of Radio Astronomy of the
International Astronomical Union and International Radio Science
Union. He is also a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics.
The image above shows Leonid with a model of the astrophysical probe
"Vertikal" -- a subject of his MSc studies.
|
