Background
Gehrels, Neil was born on October 3, 1952 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Tom and Aleida (de Stoppelaar) Gehrels.
lecturer professor research scientist author
Gehrels, Neil was born on October 3, 1952 in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, United States. Son of Tom and Aleida (de Stoppelaar) Gehrels.
He graduated in 1976 with Bachelor's degrees in music and physics from the University of Arizona. He received his Ph.D. in physics in 1982 from the California Institute of Technology with advisor Edward C. Stone.
They have two children. Thomas (born, 1987) and Emily (born, 1990). Dr. Gehrels is currently the Chief of the Astroparticle Physics Laboratory at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
He is the Principal Investigator for the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission. Other responsibilities include: Project Scientist for the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (1991–2000), Mission Scientist for Mission INTEGRAL, Deputy Project Scientist for the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and Project Scientist for Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope - WFIRST. He is also a College Park Professor at the University of Maryland and adjunct professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State. His research focuses on transient objects in the universe such as gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and active galaxy flares.
He has worked to develop gamma-ray astrophysics from a field of experiments detecting a few objects to a full astronomical discipline with thousands of sources in many classes. He was elected Chair of the Astronomy Section of the National Academy of Sciences in 2013. He has published over 600 academic articles, which have been cited 36,000 times for an h-index of 91.
His most cited works include papers on the discovery of the origin of short gamma-ray bursts, the Swift satellite, Poisson statistics, observations of gamma-ray bursts at the edge of the visible universe, discovery of a relativistic tidal disruption event, and finding of two classes of active galactic nuclei in the gamma-ray band.
2012, Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science 2012, Alumnus of the Year, Honors College, University of Arizona 2012, Marrie Massey Award of COSPAR 2011, Member International Academy of Astronautics 2010, Member National Academy of Sciences 2009, George W. Goddard Award, SPIE 2009, Henry Draper Medal, National Academy of Sciences 2008, Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences 2007, Bruno Rossi Prize, American Astronomical Society (awarded to the Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission) 2005, NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal 2000, Randolph Lovelace Award, American Astronautical Society 1993, Fellow, American Physical Society 1976-77, Caltech Graduate Fellowship.
Member American Astronom. Society (chair high energy astrophysics division 1996).
Married Ellen D. Williams, April 5, 1980. Children: Thomas W., Emily W.
