Daryl Haggard is an American-Canadian astronomer and associate professor of physics in the Department of Physics at McGill University and the McGill Space Institute.[1]

Daryl Haggard
Born
Seattle, Washington, United States
EducationSt. John's College (BA)
San Francisco State University (MSc)
University of Washington (PhD)
Known forMulti-wavelength observations of the Milky Way Galactic Center and Sagittarius A*, X-ray observations of the binary neutron star merger GW170817
AwardsCIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2017– 2019)
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsMcGill University
ThesisThe Fraction of X-ray-active Galaxies in the Field from the Chandra Multiwavelength Project and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (2010)
Doctoral advisorScott F. Anderson and Paul J. Green
WebsitePersonal website

Early life and education

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Haggard was born in Seattle, Washington, the fifth of eight children, and moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico at 6 months of age.[2] Haggard's father was a mathematician and college professor. Her mother trained as biologist and owns a native plant nursery in Santa Fe.[3]

She studied at St. John's College, receiving a Bachelors of Arts in philosophy and mathematics in May 1995. She became fascinated by orbital mechanics after reading Newton's Principia and realizing that mathematical equations could describe the orbits of planets.[3]

In 2004, Haggard received a Master of Science in physics from San Francisco State University, where she studied X-ray-emitting binary stars in the globular cluster Omega Centauri. She received a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Washington in 2010. Her thesis work focused on active galactic nuclei (accreting supermassive black holes at the center of distant galaxies).[4]

Career

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After completing her Ph.D., Haggard accepted a postdoctoral fellowship at the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA) at Northwestern University. She spent one year as an assistant professor of astronomy in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Amherst College, before accepting an assistant professor position at McGill University and joining the newly formed McGill Space Institute in 2015.[3][5]

Daryl Haggard's research group uses radio, submillimeter, near infrared, and X-ray telescopes to study compact objects, including active galactic nuclei, Sagittarius A* (the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy) and the mergers of neutron stars.[6][7]

In 2017, she led a team that used the Chandra X-ray Observatory to detect the afterglow of the merger of two neutron stars, GW170817, the first detection of X-rays from a gravitational wave source.[8][9] Follow-up observations of the merger remnant by Haggard's group in 2017 showed the remnant grew brighter, rather than dimming, as expected.[10][11] The remnant finally began to fade in X-ray observations taken in 2018, 260 days after the merger.[12]

She is currently a member of the Canadian Joint Committee on Space Astronomy, the Event Horizon Telescope Multiwavelength Coordination Team and the Thirty Meter Telescope International Science Development Team.[4] Haggard had also served on the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Governance Task Force, was the editor of the AASWOMEN Newsletter and was elected a member of the AAS High Energy Astrophysics Division (HEAD) Executive Committee.[3]

Awards and recognition

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CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2017–19) [6]

Kavli Frontiers Fellow (2014–2016) [13]

CIERA Postdoctoral Fellow (2010–2014) [14]

Personal life

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Haggard resides in Montreal with her husband Nicolas Benjamin Cowan, an astronomer and planetary scientist. They have one son.[2]

Selected publications

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References

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  1. ^ "Bio CIFAR".
  2. ^ a b Name, Your. "Daryl Haggard – McGill University – Personal". www.physics.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  3. ^ a b c d Haggard, Daryl (2016-05-30). "Women In Astronomy: Meet your CSWA committee: Daryl Haggard". Women In Astronomy. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  4. ^ a b Name, Your. "Daryl Haggard – McGill University – Bio". www.physics.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  5. ^ "McGill launches new Space Institute". Montreal Gazette. 2015-10-28. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  6. ^ a b "Bio – Daryl Haggard". CIFAR. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  7. ^ "Milky Way's Monster Black Hole Belches Big, But Why?". Space.com. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  8. ^ "Chandra Makes First Detection of X-rays from a Gravitational Wave Source: Interview with Chandra Scientist Daryl Haggard | ChandraBlog | Fresh Chandra News". chandra.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  9. ^ Haggard, Daryl; Nynka, Melania; Ruan, John J.; Kalogera, Vicky; Cenko, S. Bradley; Evans, Phil; Kennea, Jamie A. (2017-10-16). "A Deep Chandra X-Ray Study of Neutron Star Coalescence GW170817". The Astrophysical Journal. 848 (2): L25. arXiv:1710.05852. Bibcode:2017ApJ...848L..25H. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aa8ede. ISSN 2041-8213. S2CID 55424196.
  10. ^ "Here's Something Strange, the Afterglow From Last Year's Kilonova is Continuing to Brighten – Universe Today". Universe Today. 2018-01-22. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  11. ^ Ruan, John J.; Nynka, Melania; Haggard, Daryl; Kalogera, Vicky; Evans, Phil (2018). "Brightening X-Ray Emission from GW170817/GRB 170817A: Further Evidence for an Outflow". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 853 (1): L4. arXiv:1712.02809. Bibcode:2018ApJ...853L...4R. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aaa4f3. ISSN 2041-8205. S2CID 55664304.
  12. ^ Nynka, Melania; Ruan, John J.; Haggard, Daryl; Evans, Phil A. (2018-07-31). "Fading of the X-Ray Afterglow of Neutron Star Merger GW170817/GRB 170817A at 260 Days". The Astrophysical Journal. 862 (2): L19. arXiv:1805.04093. Bibcode:2018ApJ...862L..19N. doi:10.3847/2041-8213/aad32d. ISSN 2041-8213. S2CID 54700363.
  13. ^ "2015 Kavli Fellows – News Release". www.nasonline.org. Retrieved 2018-10-11.
  14. ^ "Daryl Haggard – Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA)". ciera.northwestern.edu. Retrieved 2018-10-11.