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Gary Davis has been the
Director of the Joint Astronomy Centre since August 2002. He leads the
organisation, comprising approximately 60 staff, responsible for
operating the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) and the United
Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT), and is also the Director of both
observatories. He is employed by the Science and Technology Facilities
Council (STFC) of the United Kingdom.
Professor Davis was educated in Canada and England, receiving his
doctorate from Oxford University in 1987. He then held a research
fellowship at the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, also in the UK,
before returning to Canada in 1991 as a Professor of Physics and
Engineering Physics at the University of Saskatchewan. Whilst at
Saskatchewan his dynamic teaching was recognised on several occasions,
including the Master Teacher Award in 1998. In addition to his present
post at the JAC, he also holds honorary professorships at the
University of Saskatchewan, the University of British Columbia, and
Cardiff University.
Gary's research has focussed on the formation and evolution of
planetary systems, using various techniques of infared spectroscopy
from the ground and from space. He led the team which developed the
Fabry-Perot subsystem for the LWS instrument which was launched on
ESA's Infrared Space Observatory in 1995. Later, he engineered Canada's
participation in the UK-led SPIRE instrument on the Herschel
spacecraft, launched by ESA in 2009. He was also Principal Investigator
of a feasibility study, funded by the Canadian Space Agency, of a
project called MUSE, the objective of which was to measure the
spatially-integrated infrared spectrum of the Earth as a template in
preparation for spectroscopy of extrasolar planets and the eventual
search for life. In addition, he was a user of the JCMT for many years
before taking over as its Director, using a Fourier transform
spectrometer to measure the submillimetre thermal emission spectra of
the outer planets in our Solar System. Finally, before moving to the
JAC he was a member of a team which successfully secured C$10M from the
Canada Foundation for Innovation for the support of Canadian
participation in the SCUBA-2 instrument for the JCMT.
Professor Davis is a member or fellow of several professional
societies, including the American Astronomical Society, the Canadian
Astronomical Society, the Royal Astronomical Society and the Royal
Institution. He received a Certificate of Recognition from the European
Space Agency in 1999, and a Group Achievement Award from the Royal
Astronomical Society in 2009. He also sits on the Governing Board of
RadioNet and on the OPTICON Telescope Directors Forum: these latter two
bodies are both pan-European collaborations for the support of
ground-based radio astronomy and optical/infrared astronomy,
respectively.
Professor Davis is married to Caroline (nee Franks), who holds a
doctorate from Oxford University in the philosophy of religion. His
personal interests include choral singing, antique maps, timekeeping
and navigation, hiking and wilderness canoeing. He also has the good
fortune to be a supporter and shareholder of Everton Football Club.
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