Astronomy star to lead research school

One of Australia’s foremost astronomers, Professor Matthew Colless, has today been announced as the new director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Australian National University. Professor Colless joins the university after a long and highly distinguished career in astronomy, most recently as director of the Australian Astronomical Observatory. He has published more than 230 articles which have notched up nearly 15,000 citations. Four of his papers are in the 1000 most-cited astronomy papers of all time, and since 2007 Professor Colless himself has been ranked in the top 250 most-cited researchers in space sciences in the previous 25 years. His awards include the Professor MK Vainu Bappu Gold Medal in 1994, being a finalist in the Eureka Prize for Scientific Research in 2001 and 2002, receiving the Royal Astronomical Society Group Achievement Award in 2007 and being made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society in 2009 for his work on galaxy structure and evolution.