Prof. Andy Lawrence

- Position:
-
PROFESSOR
- Research Theme:
- Astronomy
- Institution:
- Edinburgh
- Email address:
- al@roe.ac.uk
- Website:
- http://www.roe.ac.uk/~al
- Telephone number:
- +44 (0)131 668 8346
- Address:
- Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh, EH9 3HJ, United Kingdom
Research interests
My main specialisation is the study of active galactic nuclei and quasars, and especially the clues from their variability and their spectral energy distributions. I have also worked on other extragalactic topics such as starburst galaxies and the measurement of large scale structure. I have often used very large scale surveys, and most recently was the PI of UKIDSS, and have been using PanSTARRS to look for extreme transients. My interest in large scale surveys also led me to work on the concept of the Virtual Observatory.
Teaching
I have taught at all levels from large first year general courses (eg Discovering Astronomy, Physics 1A) through Junior Honours (eg Astrophysics 3, Fourier Analysis and Statistics) to BSc Honour Courses (eg Astronomical Statistics and Measurement). I have published a textbook on Astronomical Measurement and have others in preparation. I am keen on innovative teaching techniques, and co-led an Astronomy Technology based MOOC with Coursera.
Research outputs
- Quasar viscosity crisis DOI, Nature Astronomy, 2, p. 102-103 (2018)
- The USNO-UKIRT K-band Hemisphere Survey(2018)
- A population of highly energetic transient events in the centres of active galaxies DOI, Nature Astronomy, 1, 12 , p. 865-871 (2017)
- The broad-band SEDs of four 'hypervariable' AGN DOI, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 474, 3 , p. 3565-3575 (2017)
- A kilonova as the electromagnetic counterpart to a gravitational-wave source DOI, Nature, 551, 7678 , p. 75-79 (2017)
- Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger DOI, Astrophysical Journal Letters, 848, 2 (2017)
- The UKIRT Hemisphere Survey: definition and J-band data release DOI, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 473, 4 , p. 5113-5125 (2017)
- Spectral analysis of four 'hypervariable' AGN: a microneedle in the haystack? DOI, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 467, 2 , p. 1259-1280 (2017)
- First Discoveries of z > 6 Quasars with the DECam Legacy Survey and UKIRT Hemisphere Survey DOI, Astrophysical Journal, 839, 1 (2017)
- Discovery of 16 New z ˜ 5.5 Quasars: Filling in the Redshift Gap of Quasar Color Selection DOI, Astronomical Journal, 153, 4 , p. 184 (2017)