Tamara Davis
Tamara Davis
University Of Queensland Professor in School of Mathematics and Physics
Professor Tamara Davis is an astrophysicist who studies the elusive "dark energy" that's accelerating the universe. She did her PhD at the University of New South Wales on theoretical cosmology and black holes, then worked on supernova cosmology in two postdoctoral fellowships, the first at the Australian National University (collaborating with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) and the second at the University of Copenhagen, before moving to Queensland to join the WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey team working on mapping the galaxies in the universe. She led the Dark Theme within the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics, is now leading the OzDES survey -- working with the international Dark Energy Survey, and working with working with the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument project.
Her accolades include the Astronomical Society of Australia's Louise Webster Medal for early career research impact, the L'Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia, the Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lectureship, the Australian Academy of Science's Nancy Millis Medal for outstanding female leadership in science, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, the Astronomical Society of Australia's Ellery Lectureship, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Her accolades include the Astronomical Society of Australia's Louise Webster Medal for early career research impact, the L'Oréal Women in Science Fellowship for Australia, the Australian Institute of Physics Women in Physics Lectureship, the Australian Academy of Science's Nancy Millis Medal for outstanding female leadership in science, an Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship, the Astronomical Society of Australia's Ellery Lectureship, and a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
Related Sessions
A Second Earth
MON, OCT 16, 12:30 PM
Conference
For centuries, the dream of human travel into the cosmos has fired imaginations. And with the advent of space tourism and NASA’s plan to build a permanent Moon base by 2030 – as well as Space X efforts to get humans to Mars – human space travel through our solar system no longer seems in the realms of science fiction.
But while the exploration of our local planets and moons may yield useful resources, and even possibly traces of life, humans are already looking beyond – to exoplanets - hunting for those with conditions like our own. But the vast distances of the universe mean we’re unlikely to visit.
If we are to ever step foot on a Second Earth, it may be because one of the great unsolved mysteries of the cosmos has been solved: what is dark energy? It’s thought to make up around 68% of the known universe and is a hypothetical form of energy that exerts a negative, repulsive pressure, behaving like the opposite of gravity. Researchers like Prof Tamara Davis are busy trying to decode its secrets. If we can harness it, intergalactic travel may become a reality.
