| Anna Watts | |
| Birth Name: | Anna Louise Watts |
| Education: | Bradford Girls' Grammar School |
| Alma Mater: | University of Oxford (BA) University of Southampton (PhD) |
| Doctoral Advisor: | Nils Andersson |
| Thesis Url: | https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.432636 |
| Thesis Title: | The dynamics of differentially rotating neutron stars |
| Thesis Year: | 2003 |
| Fields: | Astronomy Neutron stars Physics |
Anna Louise Watts is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam. She studies neutron stars and their thermonuclear explosions.[1]
Watts was educated at Bradford Girls' Grammar School.[2] She studied physics at Merton College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class degree from the University of Oxford in 1995.[3] She entered the science stream at the Ministry of Defence on a graduate scheme, where she worked for five years. Watts completed her PhD[4] in physics supervised by in the general relativity group researching neutron stars.[5]
After her PhD Watts moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a postdoctoral fellow at Goddard Space Flight Center.[5] [6] She then received a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Munich.[5] [7] In 2008 Watts joined the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy.[2]
Watts looks to understand the physics behind the violent dynamic events that occur on neutron stars. These include magnetic flares, thermonuclear explosions, and starquakes.[8] Her research lies at the intersection of theoretical physics and astrophysics. Working with Tod Strohmayer she identified the hidden structure of a neutron star; a 1.6 km crust made of material so dense a teaspoon would weigh 10 million tonnes.[9] In 2014 she received an ERC Starter Grant worth €1,500,000 to study the physics of neutron star explosions.[10]
She is involved in the development future high-energy space telescopes. Watts is part of the science team for the NASA probe Strobe-X.[11] For the Chinese-European Enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry mission, she is chair of the Dense Matter Science Working Group.[12] [13] She is also chair of Network 3 for NOVA, the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy.[14] She served on the European Cooperation in Science & Technology committee.[15] Watts has contributed to Times Higher Education and Vice.[16] [17]