[My work]

Philip Kendall - Who's Who?

Inspired by The Unofficial Institute of Astronomy First Second Third Something Years' Page, here's a brief guide to the First Year Second Year Third Year Fourth Year 1999 Entry PhD Students at the Institute of Astronomy:

David Ballantyne

Despite being Canadian and having a beard, David has so far failed to display any lumberjack-like qualities whatsoever. In fact, he actually appears quite normal, apart from in his IoA photograph, in which he looks like a serial killer. David has joined the X-Ray Group with Andy Fabian as his supervisor. David's latest trick was to get some observing time on the VLA which he didn't know about. To David's credit, he did manage to survive sharing an office with me for over a year, so he can't be all bad.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, CITA.

Fraser Clarke

Scottish. In fact, the only British third year who hasn't already got a Cambridge degree. Specialises in climbing telescope domes. Fraser started doing a a PhD with Richard McMahon, but then changed to doing one with Simon Hodgkin instead. Fraser is also organising the IoA's biggest mug competition. I would give you a link to that page, but because of his use of frames on his page, I can't. You'll just have to do it by going to his home page and then selecting `Mug Competition'. Warning: do not invite Fraser to any Christmas lunches, as he prefers driving through London after having missed the turning for the M25.

Location as of December 2003: ESO, Chile.

Glenda Denicoló

Glenda is Brazilian, but very quickly discovered quite how bad Cambridge Cable can be when trying to get them to put a phone into a student room. Just don't ask... Glenda's PhD will (hopefully) be on HII regions in galaxies, having been ably supervised by Roberto Terlevich.

Location as of December 2003: Brazil?

Lynnette Dray

The first of our Part III Physicists, Lynnette lives miles from anywhere. At least, that's her excuse when she turns up late in the mornings... Does not look at all like Cathie Clarke. Now working with Chris Tout and red giants. Speciality: having Jeremy comment on the colour of clothes she is wearing at coffee-time.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, Leicester.

Colin Frayn

Colin is generally despised by the other first year students for having done Part II Astrophysics, and therefore actually knowing some astrophysics, as well as most of the staff at the IoA. Other things Colin has difficulty with:

Colin has now sorted his PhD out, and will be working on halo populations in nearby galaxies with Gerry Gilmore.

Location as of December 2003: Reseach fellow in AI, Birmingham.

Jon Gair

Tall. Came to the IoA having done Part III Maths in Cambridge, Jon thought he was going to end up doing something highly theoretical on cosmology with Donald Lynden-Bell which nobody else understands at all. (Whether that is nobody apart from Donald understands it, or nobody apart from Donald and Jon understand has not yet been determined). In fact, he's ended up doing something highly theoretical on quantum mechanics with Donald Lynden-Bell which nobody else understands... This point was further reinforced when Jon's end of first year interview had to be postponed as nobody who understood what on Earth he was going on about could be found...

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc(?), Caltech.

Poshak Gandhi

The next of the Part III Physicists, Poshak has already cornered the market in inviting people to college film society evenings, thus leaving the rest of us with nothing to talk about over coffee... also has the potentially deadly `Cavendish lunches are edible' disease, which I'm sure will be his downfall... Poshak is also doing a PhD with Andy Fabian, studying the X-ray background. This now means that Poshak moved office, and was working in the Hoyle building at the same time as I was. Unfortunately, this meant he had the opportunity to sneak up behind me when I'm working and make me jump. Which he did at every available opportunity for a few months. However, with the great move out of the Hoyle, I'm now further away, so it appears I'm safe for a while... Poshak is also conducting experiments into the honesty of the Swiss, by leaving his skis in restaurants and seeing if they are still there when he returns.

Location as of December 2003: ESO, Chile.

Dave Gittins [Picture of Dave]

Another Part III Physicist, Dave's first action at the IoA was to demand a new office. Probably because he'd been put in a broom cupboard... He thinks he's now working on modelling of Giant Molecular Clouds with Cathie Clarke and Matthew Bate, but this is generally thought by the rest of us to be unlikely, due to the fact that he is hardly never at morning coffee, which is well known to be the most productive part of the day.

Location as of December 2003: Finished. Still in Cambridge?

Philip Kendall [Picture of Phil]

Me. Yet another Part III Physicist, and generally considered to be a comp-sci geek. However, the rest of the first years don't seem to complain about this when they need tech support... My PhD thesis looks like it will be something to do with the misalignment of jets in Seyfert galaxies, with Jim Pringle as my supervisor.

Location as of December 2003: Finished. Still in Cambridge.

Darren Madgwick

Darren is not a Part III Physicist. In fact, he's another mathematician, despite what this page used to say... he's now working on analysis of the 2dF data with Ofer Lahav. So far, most famous for never being seen, e-mailing the IoA Helpdesk because he had a file in his home directory, and wanting to move office because his current one was too big!

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, Berkeley.

Glenn Morris

Yet another Part III Physicist, Glenn also took a year out, but the lure of Cambridge was just too strong and he succumbed to another three years in Cambridge... Glenn's PhD thesis will be on cooling flows, and he's another one with Andy Fabian as his supervisor. This has apparently already had one deleterious effect on Glenn, as he now lacks the ability to turn up to the pub at the stated time.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, IoA.

Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz

Enrico is, for a change, not from Cambridge. In fact, he came all the way from Mexico to join us and investigate Gamma-Ray Bursters. Probably attracted by having the moderately famous Martin Rees as his supervisor.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, IAS, Princeton.

Bob Tubbs

Bob. Now, Bob previously worked for the opposition, and in fact spends all his time over there, and is never seen in the IoA at all - the only place I ever see him is in King's bar, despite the fact that neither of us are actually members of King's... The fact Bob's never in the IoA may be due to the fact that he's working on instrumentation for COAST with Craig Mackay. In April 2000, Bob claimed that he will be moving over into his IoA office, but the rest of us were sceptical of this claim, and in fact were quite glad when he stayed over the road.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, Leiden.

Finally, as a (dis)honourable mention:

Michael Murphy

Not really a member of the IoA, but visited here (from the University of New South Wales) for three months until June 2000. Instantly recognisable due to his bleach blond `beach bum' hair and big shorts.

Location as of December 2003: Postdoc, IoA.


If you enjoyed this lot, you may also enjoy Mr Astronomer, or the IoA Haiku Page, with thanks(?) to Lisa and Colin respectively...


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