Philip D. Nicholson (born 1951) is an Australian-born professor of astronomy atCornell University in theAstronomy department specialising inPlanetary Sciences. He was editor-in-chief of the journalIcarus between 1998 and 2018.[1]
Nicholson received his Ph.D. fromCaltech in 1979. Nicholson's research centers on two main areas: orbital dynamics in planetary ring systems andinfrared observational studies of planets, their satellites, and their rings. His work has included studies of thering systems of Saturn, Uranus, andNeptune viaVoyager observations and ground-based stellar occultations; Earth-based observations with the 5-meterHale Telescope atPalomar Observatory of several small moons ofJupiter and Saturn discovered by the Voyager spacecraft; dynamical investigations of the planetary system around the pulsarPSR 1257 + 12,[2] and of the rotational evolution of natural satellites; and studies of thezodiacal dust bands discovered by theInfrared Astronomical Satellite in 1983.
Together with colleagues in Canada and at Harvard, he has been involved in the discovery of numerous outer satellites ofUranus,Saturn andNeptune.[3][4][5]
Nicholson was a member of the Visual Infrared Mapping Spectrometer science team on the NASA/ESACassini–Huygens mission to Saturn, and was the leader of a team of Cornell and Caltech astronomers studying the impact ofComet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter in July 1994 using the Hale Telescope. He has served on the Committees on Planetary and Lunar Exploration and on Astronomy and Astrophysics of theNational Research Council, time assignment committees for theKuiper Airborne Observatory andHubble Space Telescope, and scientific advisory committees forArecibo andIPAC. He has coauthored review articles on planetary ring dynamics and on the Uranian and Neptunian ring systems.
The innermain-belt asteroid7220 Philnicholson, discovered byEdward Bowell atAnderson Mesa in 1981, was named in his honor.[6] The official naming citation was published on 5 October 1998 (M.P.C.32790).[7]
Nicholson won theHarold Masursky Award in 2019, "for meritorious service to planetary science" in his role as editor-in-chief ofIcarus.[8]
He was elected a Legacy Fellow of theAmerican Astronomical Society in 2020.[9]