Jonathan Pritchard

Professor of Astrostatistics,
Imperial College London

PhD (Physics) (2007), California Institute of Technology
MA (Cantab) (2004), Cambridge University
MSci Natural Sciences (2002), Cambridge University
BA Natural Sciences (2002), Cambridge University

Curriculum Vitae: pdf

Campus Information:
Office: Blackett 1018C

Tel: 02075947557

Email: j.pritchard aT imperial.ac.uk

Mailing Address:
Imperial College
Blackett Laboratory
Prince Consort Road
London
SW7 2AZ

ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4127-5353

Search publications: SPIRES, ADS, astro-ph, or Google Scholar

I am a Professor of Astrostatistics in the Astrophysics group at Imperial College London, where I moved in October 2011. My research, which was awarded the 2017 Fowler Award by the RAS, deals with understanding the astrophysics of the 21 cm line of hydrogen with a view to making predictions for the upcoming generation of low-frequency radio telescopes, e.g. LOFAR, HERA, SKA. These observations will open a new window onto the early universe and have enormous potential to tell us about the first stars and galaxies and the evolution of structures in the early Universe.

I am PI of the ERC funded FIRSTDAWN project to study the interpretation of the 21cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn. I am currently chair of the UK SKA Science Committee, and was previously chair of the SKA Epoch of Reionization science working group.

Previously, I was a Hubble Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Even longer ago, I was a graduate student in the Theoretical Astrophysics group at Caltech, where I completed my PhD in physics/cosmology with the help of my advisor Marc Kamionkowski. While there, I also worked extensively with Steve Furlanetto on ways the 21 cm transition of hydrogen can be used to probe the cosmic dark ages and reionization. Before that, I completed my undergraduate at Pembroke College, Cambridge. It’s been a fun journey from a little village in Somerset to the wide world.

My academic genealogy.