Alexander Tielens

Alexander Godfried Gerardus Maria (Xander) Tielens (born 1953) is an astronomer at Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, in the Netherlands. In 2012 he received the highest distinction in Dutch science, the Spinoza Prize.^[1]

Alexander Tielens presenting at the Royal Astronomical Society in 2012.

Biography

Tielens has contributed significantly to several fields of astronomy, including interstellar physics and astrochemistry.^[2] He is mostly known for his work on large aromatic molecules (PAHs) in space^[3] and on photodissociation regions.^[4] He is also the author of a reference textbook on the interstellar medium.^[5]

Tielens is the project scientist of the HIFI instrument on board of the Herschel Space Observatory. He used to be the NASA Project Scientist of the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy.

Since 2012 Tielens has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences.^[6]

References

1. "NWO Spinoza Prize 2012". Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. 11 September 2014. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
2. NASA ADS Citation report
3. Review on PAHs
4. Hollenbach, D.J.; Tielens, A.G.G.M. (1999). "Photodissociation regions in the interstellar medium of galaxies". Reviews of Modern Physics. 71 (1): 173–230. Bibcode:1999RvMP...71..173H. doi:10.1103/RevModPhys.71.173.
5. The Physics and Chemistry of the Interstellar Medium
6. "Xander Tielens" (in Dutch). Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 30 June 2015.