P. Frank Winkler
Former President
Gamaliel Painter Professor Emeritus of Physics
Research Professor of Astrophysics
Contact
Address
Department of Physics
Middlebury College
Middlebury, VT 05753
Research Interests
My research centers around observations of supernova remnants—the remains of exploded stars—from which we can learn a great deal about their progenitor stars and about the surrounding interstellar medium into which they expand. My colleagues and I carry out observations from large optical telescopes on the ground and in space, and also use instruments for observing in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum, e.g., NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the VLA and ATCA radio telescope arrays.
Honors and Awards
National Merit Scholarship, Caltech 1960-64
DuPont Travel Prize, Caltech 1963
Harvard Graduate Fellowship 1964-65
NSF Graduate Fellowship 1965-69
Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship 1976-80
VASE President 2013 – 2018 (VASE member since 2005)
Education
B.S. California Institute of Technology 1964 (Physics, with Honors)
A.M. Harvard University (Physics) 1965
Ph.D. Harvard University (Physics) 1970
Thesis: "A Precise Determination of the Proton Magnetic Moment" Advisors: D. Kleppner & N.F. Ramsey
Selected Publications
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Points, S.D., Long, K.S., Winkler, P.F., & Blair, W.P. 2019, “Kinematics: A Clean Diagnostic for Separating Supernova Remnants from H II Regions in Nearby Galaxies,” Astrophysical Journal, 887:66
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Winkler, P.F., Blair, W.P., & Long, K.S. 2017, “A Spectroscopic Study of the Rich Supernova Remnant Population in M83,” Astrophysical Journal, 839:83
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Soria, R., Long, K. S., Blair, W. P., Godfrey, L., Kuntz, K. D., Lenc, E., Stockdale, C., Winkler, P. F., 2014, “Super-Eddington Mechanical Power of an Accreting Black Hole in M83,” Science, 343, 1330.
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Winkler, P. Frank, Williams, Brian J., Reynolds, Stephen P., Petre, Robert, Long, Knox S., Katsuda, Satoru, Hwang, Una,, 2014, “A High-resolution X-Ray and Optical Study of SN 1006: Asymmetric Expansion and Small-scale Structure in a Type Ia Supernova Remnant,” Astrophysical Journal, 781:65.
Plus over 100 other research papers in astrophysics
Professional Experience
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont 1969-present
Gamaliel Painter Bicentennial Professor of Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Visiting Scientist, Center for Space Research 1973-74
(on leave from Middlebury) 1978-80
Scientific Consultant, SAS-3 1976
Scientific Consultant, Einstein Observatory 1980-82
Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge University, UK
Senior Visiting Fellow 1985-86
Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, Chile
Visiting Resident Scientist 1990-91, 1996-97
Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics, Boulder CO
Visiting Fellow 1991
Professional Affiliations
American Astronomical Society
American Physical Society
International Astronomical Union
Council on Undergraduate Research
Sigma Xi
Vermont Academy of Science and Engineering, elected 2005