Sheila Rowan (physicist)

Rowan was educated at the University of Glasgow where, in 1991, she received a bachelor's degree in physics, followed by a PhD in 1995[2] for research on gravitational waves supervised by James Hough.[6]

After her PhD, Rowan's work was split between the University of Glasgow and the Edward Ginzton Laboratory at Stanford University.[6] Since 2003, she has been based solely in Glasgow, and in 2006 was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics. Rowan's research has focused on developing optical materials for use in gravitational wave detectors.[8] She led a team which worked on the international Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration. This collaboration led in September 2015 to the detection of gravitational waves for the first time after Albert Einstein's prediction.[9]

In June 2016, Rowan was seconded (part-time) to chief scientific advisor to the Scottish Government,[3] a position vacant since December 2014, when Muffy Calder stood down.[10][11]

• Rowan was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) in 2008[12] and a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2018.[13][3]
• Rowan was awarded the Philip Leverhulme Prize for Astronomy and Astrophysics in 2005, elected a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (FInstP) in 2006 and awarded Fellowship of the American Physical Society in 2012.[3] She was awarded the Fred Hoyle Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics in 2016 in recognition of her pioneering research on aspects of the technology of gravitational wave observatories.
• In 2016, Rowan and her team contributed to the 2016 Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, for their work on the first detection of gravitational waves, which was announced in February 2016.[11]
• In 2016, Rowan was among a team of researches to be awarded the President's Medal by the Royal Society of Edinburgh.[14][7]
• In 2017, Rowan won the Suffrage Science award[1]
• In July 2019, Rowan was elected to the role of president-elect by the Institute of Physics. She will take up the post in October 2019 and will become president on 1 October 2021.[15]
• In 2020, Rowan won the Sir Harold Hartley Medal by the Institute of Measurement and Control for outstanding contribution to the technology of measurement and control.[16]

Rowan was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2011 Birthday Honours[6] and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to science.[17]

• Rowan was awarded a patent for silicon carbide bonding in 2011 from the European Patent Office. The patent covers a novel method for bonding silicon carbide components to themselves and to other materials.[18][19]

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