Evan D. Skillman Explained
Evan David Skillman (born January 27, 1955, in Rochester, New York) is an American astronomer and astrophysicist.
Education and career
Evan Skillman graduated in 1977 with a B.A. in physics from Cornell University and in 1984 with a Ph.D. in astronomy from Seattle's University of Washington. His Ph.D. thesis Physical Conditions in Giant Extragalactic H II Regions was supervised by .[1] [2] Skillman was a postdoc at the ASTRON Netherlands Foundation for Radio Astronomy, where his supervisor was, and then at the University of Texas, where his supervisor was Gregory A. Shields. In 1989 Skillman became a faculty member in the University of Minnesota's astronomy department, where he is now the director of the Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics and a College of Science and Engineering Distinguished Professor. He took leave of absence for sabbatical years at Garching's Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, where his host was Simon White, and at the University of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy, where his host was Stephen Smartt.[3] In 2012 and 2013, Skillman was one of the leaders of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) project. Part of the project made available large amounts of Hubble Space Telescope image data and used volunteer citizen scientists to analyze stellar clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy. The large number of citizen scientists accomplished in 12 days what would have taken the far smaller team of professional scientists approximately one year.[4] [5] [6] [7]
Skillman has done research on "the interstellar medium, the stellar populations, the chemical abundances, and the dark matter content of nearby galaxies, with a focus on dwarf galaxies."[3] In 2018 he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society for "observational constraints on the primordial helium abundance and significant contributions to understanding the chemical evolution of galaxies."[8]
Family
His sister, Leslie Elaine Skillman-Hull (1953–2020), was an assistant professor in women's health care and an accomplished potter.[9] In 1990 in Minnesota, Evan Skillman married Kimberley Ann Venn, now a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Victoria. They have a daughter, but are now divorced. He has since remarried.
Selected publications
Articles
- 1989ApJ...347..875S. 10.1086/168178. Oxygen abundances in nearby dwarf irregular galaxies . 1989 . Skillman . Evan D. . Kennicutt . R. C. . Robert Kennicutt. Hodge . P. W. . Paul W. Hodge. The Astrophysical Journal . 347 . 875 . free . (over 700 citations)
- 1993ApJ...411..655S. 10.1086/172868. Spatially resolved optical and near-infrared spectroscopy of I ZW 18 . 1993 . Skillman . Evan D. . Kennicutt . Robert C. Jr. . The Astrophysical Journal . 411 . 655 . 2060/19910004841 . 123245846 . free .
- 1993AJ....106..548V. 10.1086/116660. Star formation thresholds in Low Surface Brightness galaxies . 1993 . Van Der Hulst . J. M. . Skillman . E. D. . Smith . T. R. . Bothun . G. D. . McGaugh . S. S. . Stacy McGaugh. De Blok . W. J. G. . The Astronomical Journal . 106 . 548 . 1903/8710 . free .
- 1995ApJ...443...64G. 10.1086/175503. The evolution of C/O in dwarf galaxies from Hubble Space Telescope FOS observations . 1995 . Garnett . D. R. . Skillman . E. D. . Dufour . R. J. . Peimbert . M. . Torres-Peimbert . S. . Terlevich . R. . Terlevich . E.. Elena Terlevich . Shields . G. A. . The Astrophysical Journal . 443 . 64 . astro-ph/9411011 . 118743858 .
- 10.1086/177964. Elemental Abundance Variations and Chemical Enrichment from Massive Stars in Starbursts. I. NGC 4214 . 1996 . Kobulnicky . Henry A. . Skillman . Evan D. . The Astrophysical Journal . 471 . 211–236 . 249398869 . free . 1996ApJ...471..211K .
- 10.1086/304775. Interstellar Abundance Gradients in NGC 2403: Comparison to M33 . 1997 . Garnett . D. R. . Shields . G. A. . Skillman . E. D. . Sagan . S. P. . Dufour . R. J. . The Astrophysical Journal . 489 . 1 . 63–86 . 120558849 . free . 1997ApJ...489...63G .
- 10.1086/304830. Elemental Abundance Variations and Chemical Enrichment from Massive Stars in Starbursts. II. NGC 1569 . 1997 . Kobulnicky . Henry A. . Skillman . Evan D. . The Astrophysical Journal . 489 . 2 . 636–655 . 117118137 . free . 1997ApJ...489..636K .
- 10.1086/306923. Improving Predictions for Helium Emission Lines . 1999 . Benjamin . Robert A. . Skillman . Evan D. . Smits . Derck P. . The Astrophysical Journal . 514 . 1 . 307–324 . 16422400 . free . astro-ph/9810087 . 1999ApJ...514..307B .
- 10.1086/425170. A Realistic Determination of the Error on the Primordial Helium Abundance: Steps toward Nonparametric Nebular Helium Abundances . 2004 . Olive . Keith A. . Keith Olive. Skillman . Evan D. . The Astrophysical Journal . 617 . 1 . 29–49 . 15187664 . free . astro-ph/0405588 . 2004ApJ...617...29O .
- 10.1086/505573. On Extending the Mass-Metallicity Relation of Galaxies by 2.5 Decades in Stellar Mass . 2006 . Lee . Henry . Skillman . Evan D. . Cannon . John M. . Jackson . Dale C. . Gehrz . Robert D. . Polomski . Elisha F. . Woodward . Charles E. . The Astrophysical Journal . 647 . 2 . 970–983 . astro-ph/0605036 . 2006ApJ...647..970L . 119482186 . (over 400 citations)
- 10.1086/516711. Leo A: A Late-blooming Survivor of the Epoch of Reionization in the Local Group . 2007 . Cole . Andrew A. . Skillman . Evan D. . Tolstoy . Eline . Gallagher Iii . John S. . Aparicio . Antonio . Dolphin . Andrew E. . Gallart . Carme . Hidalgo . Sebastian L. . Saha . Abhijit . Stetson . Peter B. . Weisz . Daniel R. . The Astrophysical Journal . 659 . 1 . L17–L20 . 14268757 . free . astro-ph/0702646 . 2007ApJ...659L..17C .
- 10.1088/0004-637X/703/1/517. Thespitzerlocal Volume Legacy: Survey Description and Infrared Photometry . 2009 . Dale . D. A. . Cohen . S. A. . Johnson . L. C. . Schuster . M. D. . Calzetti . D. . Engelbracht . C. W. . Gil De Paz . A. . Kennicutt . R. C. . Lee . J. C. . Begum . A. . Block . M. . Dalcanton . J. J. . Funes . J. G. . Gordon . K. D. . Johnson . B. D. . Marble . A. R. . Sakai . S. . Skillman . E. D. . Van Zee . L. . Walter . F. . Weisz . D. R. . Williams . B. . Wu . S.-Y. . Wu . Y. . The Astrophysical Journal . 703 . 1 . 517–556 . 51119114 . free . 0907.4722 . 2009ApJ...703..517D . (over 500 citations)
- 10.1088/0067-0049/183/1/67. The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury . 2009 . Dalcanton . Julianne J. . Williams . Benjamin F. . Seth . Anil C. . Dolphin . Andrew . Holtzman . Jon . Rosema . Keith . Skillman . Evan D. . Cole . Andrew . Girardi . Léo . Gogarten . Stephanie M. . Karachentsev . Igor D. . Olsen . Knut . Weisz . Daniel . Christensen . Charlotte . Freeman . Ken . Gilbert . Karoline . Gallart . Carme . Harris . Jason . Hodge . Paul . De Jong . Roelof S. . Karachentseva . Valentina . Mateo . Mario . Stetson . Peter B. . Tavarez . Maritza . Zaritsky . Dennis . Governato . Fabio . Quinn . Thomas . The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series . 183 . 1 . 67–108 . 0905.3737 . 2009ApJS..183...67D . 5032304 . (over 500 citations)
- 10.1088/1475-7516/2010/05/003. A new approach to systematic uncertainties and self-consistency in helium abundance determinations . 2010 . Aver . Erik . Olive . Keith A. . Skillman . Evan D. . Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics . 2010 . 5 . 003 . 1001.5218 . 2010JCAP...05..003A . 250766602 .
- 10.1088/0004-637X/739/1/5. The ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury. Viii. The Global Star Formation Histories of 60 Dwarf Galaxies in the Local Volume . 2011 . Weisz . Daniel R. . Dalcanton . Julianne J. . Williams . Benjamin F. . Gilbert . Karoline M. . Skillman . Evan D. . Seth . Anil C. . Dolphin . Andrew E. . McQuinn . Kristen B. W. . Gogarten . Stephanie M. . Holtzman . Jon . Rosema . Keith . Cole . Andrew . Karachentsev . Igor D. . Zaritsky . Dennis . The Astrophysical Journal . 739 . 1 . 5 . 1101.1093 . 2011ApJ...739....5W . 119230989 .
- 10.1088/0004-637X/754/2/98. Direct Oxygen Abundances for Low-Luminosity LVL Galaxies . 2012 . Berg . Danielle A. . Skillman . Evan D. . Marble . Andrew R. . Van Zee . Liese . Engelbracht . Charles W. . Lee . Janice C. . Kennicutt . Robert C. . Calzetti . Daniela . Dale . Daniel A. . Johnson . Benjamin D. . The Astrophysical Journal . 754 . 2 . 98 . 1205.6782 . 2012ApJ...754...98B . 2022/19103 . 119290972 . free .
- 10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/147. The Star Formation Histories of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies. I.hubble Space Telescope/Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 Observations . 2014 . Weisz . Daniel R. . Dolphin . Andrew E. . Skillman . Evan D. . Holtzman . Jon . Gilbert . Karoline M. . Dalcanton . Julianne J. . Williams . Benjamin F. . The Astrophysical Journal . 789 . 2 . 147 . 1404.7144 . 2014ApJ...789..147W . 119273716 . (over 400 citations)
- 10.1088/1475-7516/2015/07/011. The effects of He I λ10830 on helium abundance determinations . 2015 . Aver . Erik . Olive . Keith A. . Skillman . Evan D. . Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics . 2015 . 7 . 011 . 1503.08146 . 2015JCAP...07..011A . 59467603 .
- 10.1093/mnras/stx1757. Fire in the field: Simulating the threshold of galaxy formation . 2017 . Fitts . Alex . Boylan-Kolchin . Michael . Elbert . Oliver D. . Bullock . James S. . Hopkins . Philip F. . Oñorbe . Jose . Wetzel . Andrew . Wheeler . Coral . Faucher-Giguère . Claude-André . Kereš . Dušan . Skillman . Evan D. . Weisz . Daniel R. . Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society . 471 . 3 . 3547–3562 . free . 1611.02281 .
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ab020a. The Chemical Evolution of Carbon, Nitrogen, and Oxygen in Metal-poor Dwarf Galaxies . 2019 . Berg . Danielle A. . Erb . Dawn K. . Henry . Richard B. C. . Skillman . Evan D. . McQuinn . Kristen B. W. . The Astrophysical Journal . 874 . 1 . 93 . 102486209 . free . 1901.08160 . 2019ApJ...874...93B .
- 10.3847/1538-4357/ab7eab. CHAOS IV: Gas-phase Abundance Trends from the First Four CHAOS Galaxies . 2020 . Berg . Danielle A. . Pogge . Richard W. . Skillman . Evan D. . Croxall . Kevin V. . Moustakas . John . Rogers . Noah S. J. . Sun . Jiayi . The Astrophysical Journal . 893 . 2 . 96 . 2001.05002 . 210718575 . free . 2020ApJ...893...96B .
- 10.1088/1475-7516/2021/03/027. Improving helium abundance determinations with Leo P as a case study . 2021 . Aver . Erik . Berg . Danielle A. . Olive . Keith A. . Pogge . Richard W. . Salzer . John J. . Skillman . Evan D. . Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics . 2021 . 3 . 027 . 2010.04180 . 2021JCAP...03..027A . 222271995 .
Books
- Book: The Minnesota Lectures on Extragalactic Neutral Hydrogen: A Series of Lectures Presented at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, from 27 March 1994 to 2 June 1994. Skillman, Evan David. Astronomical Society of the Pacific Conference Series, volume 106. 1996. Astronomical Society of the Pacific. 1-886733-26-0. Book: e-book. 978-1-58381-442-0. Skillman . Evan David . 1996 . Astronomical Society of the Pacific .
References
- Web site: Evan D. Skillmann. PhysicsTree.
- Book: Physical Conditions in Giant Extragalactic H II Regions. Skillman, Evan David. University of Washington. 1984.
- Web site: Biography — Evan D. Skillman. College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota.
- Web site: skillman astro intro 2 (Prof. Evan Skillman, Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, discussing his research). February 12, 2013. Paul DeGeest. YouTube.
- Web site: Taking a Census of the Andromeda Galaxy. December 8, 2014. BellMuseum.
- Web site: Christian, Carol. Citizen Science with Hubble Space Telescope Data. iau.org.
- 10.1088/0067-0049/200/2/18. The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury . 2012 . Dalcanton . Julianne J. . Williams . Benjamin F. . Lang . Dustin . Lauer . Tod R. . Kalirai . Jason S. . Seth . Anil C. . Dolphin . Andrew . Rosenfield . Philip . Weisz . Daniel R. . Bell . Eric F. . Bianchi . Luciana C. . Boyer . Martha L. . Caldwell . Nelson . Dong . Hui . Dorman . Claire E. . Gilbert . Karoline M. . Girardi . Léo . Gogarten . Stephanie M. . Gordon . Karl D. . Guhathakurta . Puragra . Hodge . Paul W. . Holtzman . Jon A. . Johnson . L. Clifton . Larsen . Søren S. . Lewis . Alexia . Melbourne . Jason L. . Olsen . Knut A. G. . Rix . Hans-Walter . Rosema . Keith . Saha . Abhijit . The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series . 200 . 2 . 18 . 38835581 . 1 . free . 1204.0010 . 2012ApJS..200...18D .
- Web site: APS Fellow Archive. American Physical Society. (search on year=2018 and institution=University of Minnesota)
- News: Leslie Elaine Skillman-Hull RN.C., WHCNP, Ph.D. 1953-2020. The Star-Ledger. Newark, New Jersey. March 15, 2020.