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CXC Biographies: David J. Helfand
Professor of Astronomy, Columbia University
David J. Helfand is Professor of Astronomy at Columbia University. He
received his undergraduate degree from Amherst College and his Ph.D.
from the University of Massachusetts. Apart from several years spent
visiting several European institutes, most recently as the Sackler
Distinguished Visiting Astronomer at the University of Cambridge, he
has spent his entire career at Columbia where he served as Chair of
the Department for twelve years. He is also a past Chair of the High
Energy Astrophysics Division of the American Astronomical Society,
and was also a Councilor of the Society.
His work has s panned a wide range of topics from large-scale radio
surveys of the Universe to X-ray observations of astronomical objects
ranging from nearby stars to the most distant quasars. For nearly
twenty-five years, he has been pursuing the detection of X-rays from
the surface of neutron stars, and is delighted that Chandra now
provides the requisite sensitivity and resolution to make such
observations possible.
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