Professor Harvey Butcher
Areas of expertise
- High Energy Astrophysics; Cosmic Rays 020106
- Astronomical And Space Sciences 0201
Research interests
Cosmic nucleosynthesis, galaxy evolution, particle astrophysics, advanced astronomical instrumentation
Biography
Harvey Butcher has made contributions in observational astronomy and advanced instrumentation.
At Caltech as an undergrad he contributed to the development of advanced infrared photometry applied in the first survey of the sky at infrared wavelengths (the Two Micron Sky Survey project).
For his PhD he built one of the first high resolution echelle spectrographs in astronomy, and measured differential chemical abundances in dwarf stars of widely differing ages and mean abundance levels.
He continued his focus on developing instrumentation to solve observational problems in cosmology as the Bart J. Bok Fellow at the University of Arizona from 1974 to 1976, where he characterised anomalous abundances in extreme halo stars and pioneered the application of the then new 2D (digital TV) vidicon systems and early CCD detectors for photometry of faint stars and galaxies.
From 1976 to 1983 at the Kitt Peak National Observatory, Tucson, he spearheaded the technique of multi-aperture spectroscopy for observing very faint, high redshift galaxies, and was project scientist for several new observing instruments including an early speckle spectrograph for obtaining spatially resolved spectra at resolutions approaching the diffraction limit.
In 1978, along with Augustus Oemler, Jr., he discovered that rich galaxy clusters at large distances (z>0.2) have an excess of galaxies with blue colors when compared to similar nearby low redshift clusters. This is now known as the Butcher-Oemler Effect.
In 1983 he moved to the University of Groningen, where his research focused on galaxy evolution, using the Hubble Space Telescope and ground based systems. He also designed and built a stellar seismometer that achieved metre/sec stability and was used to detect seismic oscillations on Alpha Centauri.
From 1991 until 2007 he served as Director of ASTRON, the Netherlands' national astronomical organisation. He oversaw Dutch contributions to observatories around the world and for the James Webb Space Telescope. He laid the groundwork of the Dutch R&D for the Square Kilometre Array radio telescope project, and led the funding efforts and interdisciplinary development of LOFAR, an innovative low-frequency radio telescope. For this work, he was awarded a knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion.
Publications
- Stappers, B.W. etal 2011, 'Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 530, p. 80
- Blumer, J, Apel, W, Arteaga, J et al 2008, 'Air shower radio detection with LOPES', Journal of Physics: Conference Series(online), vol. 120, p. 3.
- Nigl, A, Apel, W, Arteaga, J et al 2008, 'Direction identification in radio images of cosmic-ray air showers detected with LOPES and KASCADE', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 487, no. 2, pp. 781-788.
- Nigl, A, Apel, W, Arteaga, J et al 2008, 'Frequency spectra of cosmic ray air shower radio emission measured with LOPES', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 488, no. 3, pp. 807-817.
- Haungs, A, Apel, W, Arteaga, J et al 2008, 'Cosmic Ray Air Shower Detection with LOPES', International Symposium on Very High Energy Cosmic Ray Interactions 2008, ed. Jean-Noël Capdevielle, Bryan Pattison and Ralph Engel, Elsevier, unknown, pp. 227-232.
- Haungs, A, Apel, W, Asch, T et al 2007, 'Radio Emission in Atmospheric Air Showers: Results of LOPES-10', Journal of Physics: Conference Series(online), vol. 81, no. 1, p. 012005.
- Buitink, S, Apel, W, Asch, T et al 2007, 'Amplified radio emission from cosmic ray air showers in thunderstorms', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 467, pp. 385-394.
- Huege, T, Apel, W, Asch, T et al 2007, 'Radio detection of cosmic ray air showers with LOPES', Nuclear Physics section B Proceedings Supplements, vol. 165, pp. 341-348.
- Isar, P, Nehls, S, Apel, W et al 2007, 'Radio Emission in Atmospheric Air Showers: First Measurements with LOPES-30', Journal of Physics: Conference Series(online), vol. 81, no. 1, p. 012006.
- Petrovic, J, Apel, W, Asch, T et al 2007, 'Radio emission of highly inclined cosmic ray air showers measured with LOPES', Astronomy and Astrophysics, vol. 462, pp. 389-395.
- GEMMEKE, H, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'ADVANCED DETECTION METHODS OF RADIO SIGNALS FROM COSMIC RAYS FOR KASCADE GRANDE AND AUGER', International Journal of Modern Physics A (IJMPA), vol. 21, pp. 242-246.
- HORNEFFER, A, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Radio Detection of Cosmic Rays with Lopes', International Journal of Modern Physics A (IJMPA), vol. 21, no. 1, pp. 168-181.
- Rottgering, H, Braun, R, Barthel, P et al. 2006, 'LOFAR - Opening up a new window on the Universe', Cosmology, Galaxy Formation and Astroparticle Physics on the pathway to the SKA, ed. Klockner H.R, Jarvis M., Rawlings S., Conference Organising Committee, Oxford, p. 11.
- Butcher, H 2006, 'LOFAR: first of a new generation of radio telescopes', SPIE International Society for Optical Engineering Conference 2006, ed. Ulrich Bonse, SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering, San Diego USA.
- Petrovic, J, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Radio emission of highly inclined cosmic ray air showers measured with LOPES - possibility for neutrino detection', Journal of Physics: Conference Series(online), vol. 39, pp. 471-474.
- Horandel, J, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Results from the KASCADE, KASCADE-Grande, and LOPES experiments', Journal of Physics: Conference Series(online), vol. 39, pp. 463-470.
- Haungs, A, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Combined LOPES and KASCADE-Grande Data Analysis', International Journal of Modern Physics A (IJMPA), vol. 21, pp. 182-186.
- Nehls, S, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Absolute Calibration of the LOPES antenna system', International Journal of Modern Physics A (IJMPA), vol. 21, no. Supplement 1, pp. 187-191.
- Grupen, C, Apel, W, Asch, T et al 2006, 'Radio Detection of Cosmic Rays with Lopes (LOPES Collaboration)', Brazilian Journal of Physics, vol. 36, no. 4A, pp. 1157-1167.
- Apel, W, Asch, T, Badea, F et al 2006, 'Progress in air shower radio measurements: Detection of distant events', Astroparticle Physics, vol. 26, pp. 332-340.
- Falcke, H, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2005, 'Detection and imaging of atmospheric radio flashes from cosmic ray air showers', Nature, vol. 435, pp. 313-316.
- Antoni, T, Apel, W, Badea, F et al 2005, 'Measuring Radio Pulses from Air Showers with Lopes', International Journal of Modern Physics A (IJMPA), vol. 20, no. 29, pp. 6828-6830.
- Butcher, H 2003, 'Organization and Goals of the European Astronomical Society', in Andre Heck (ed.), Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp. 239-243.