Astronomer university professor
Born in Windsor, Berkshire, England, Alcock attended Westlake Boys High School in the North Shore of Auckland from 1965-1968. Alcock earned his Doctor of Philosophy in astronomy and physics from the California Institute of Technology in 1977.
He is the current director of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He began his career as long-term member at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey (1977–1981). Alcock was previously the Reese West. Flower Professor of Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania.
His primary research interests are massive compact halo objects, comets and asteroids.
He is the principal investigator for the Taiwan American Occultation Survey, a project aimed at taking a census of the Solar System"s population of Kuiper Belt objects (objects located beyond the orbit of Neptune). In 2001, Alcock was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences.
Both awards recognized his pioneering work as principal investigator on the major United States. project to search for massive compact halo objects and estimate their contribution to the dark matter component of the Milky Way"s galactic halo. Alcock joined the Center for Astrophysics in August 2004.
As director, he oversees an annual federal budget of $111 million, and a staff of approximately 540 Smithsonian employees (as well as visitors, fellows and students) and 130 Harvard faculty, employees, visiting scientists and graduate students.
National Academy of Sciences. American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
