Donald C. Backer | |
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| Born | Donald Charles Backer (1943-11-09)November 9, 1943 Plainfield, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Died | July 25, 2010(2010-07-25) (aged 66) Berkeley, California, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Cornell University University of Manchester |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Radio Astronomy, |
| Institutions | UC Berkeley |
| Doctoral advisor | Frank Drake |
Donald Charles Backer (November 9, 1943 – July 25, 2010) was an Americanastrophysicist who primarily worked inradio astronomy. Backer made important contributions to the understanding and study ofpulsars (including the discovery of the firstmillisecond pulsar),black holes, and theepoch of reionization.[1]
Backer was born inPlainfield, New Jersey.[2] He attendedCornell University, where he earned aBachelor's degree inengineering physics (B.E.P.) fromCornell University in 1966. He received aMaster of Science degree inradio astronomy fromManchester University in 1968, and then returned to Cornell to earn hisdoctorate inastronomy in 1971. Backer then took post-doctoral positions first atNRAO inCharlottesville,Virginia (1971–1973), and then atNASA/GSFC inGreenbelt,Maryland (1973–1975). In 1975, Backer moved to theUniversity of California, Berkeley as a research astronomer in the Radio Astronomy Laboratory, and becameprofessor of astronomy at Berkeley in 1989.[2] Backer served as the acting chair of the Berkeley Astronomy Department from 1998 to 1999, as vice chair 1999–2001, and as chair 2002–2006 and 2007–2008. In 2008, he was appointed director of Berkeley'sRadio Astronomy Laboratory. Backer collapsed outside his home and died on July 25, 2010.[3]
Donald C. Backer was married to the artistLutz Bacher for almost 40 years.[4]
Backer's early work focused onpulsars. He discovered the firstmillisecond pulsar,PSR B1937+21, which rotates at 642 Hz (1.558 ms), a rate far beyond what was expected of pulsars before its discovery.[5][6] Backer was also involved in the discovery of aJupiter-sized planet aroundPSR B1620-26, thought to be the oldest known extrasolar planet.[7][8] Backer pioneered efforts to detectgravitational waves from rapidly rotatingneutron stars, aiming to set limits on the gravitational wave background of theuniverse.[3][9]
Backer was also a pioneer inVery Long Baseline Interferometry, a technique in radio astronomy used to achieve high angular resolution images of astronomical sources. His efforts here were directed towards understandingSagittarius A*, thesupermassive black hole at the center of theMilky Way.[3]
Backer then moved on to studyingreionization, leading a collaboration between theUniversity of California, Berkeley, theUniversity of Virginia, theUniversity of Pennsylvania, andNRAO called thePrecision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER). The project consists of two arrays of antenna, one inWest Virginia and the other inSouth Africa.[10] These arrays are simple long wavelength telescopes that hope to detect theredshiftedhydrogen line from a time very early in thehistory of the universe whenhydrogen was neutral, and by doing so study the first objects that formed in the universe.[3]
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