[ASA] Jean-Pierre Macquart

[Cathryn Trott]

Dear ASA members,


It is with sadness that I deliver the news of the passing of Associate Professor Jean-Pierre Macquart yesterday. J-P was at the peak of his research career, publishing in Nature this past week the first measurement of the missing cosmic baryons via the observed dispersion of Fast Radio Bursts, and featuring heavily in the media to announce this exciting result.


J-P undertook his PhD at the University of Sydney, studying scintillation in pulsars and quasars, and beginning an academic journey to explore the structure of the interstellar medium. He graduated in 2000, before taking positions at the Kapteyn Institute in the Netherlands, and as a National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) Jansky Fellow at Caltech, USA. He joined the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy and the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research in 2009, where he led the research group studying fast transients and scintillation in radio sources.


J-P was instrumental in developing and pursuing the Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transient (CRAFT) Survey, which has detected and localised FRBs emitted from the distant Universe. He led early scientific exploration on key aspects of the survey, advised the engineers on technical means of detection, and developed the theory to interpret the temporal smearing of FRBs. With optical follow-up, the host galaxies of the FRBs have been imaged for the first time, providing certainty of the cosmological distance of these sources, and allowing them to be used to measure the baryons in the intervening intergalactic medium.


J-P will be remembered as an exceptional scientist and theorist, with the ability to turn his hand equally to observation and engineering. He was most happy doing pen-and-paper calculations, having robust scientific discussions with colleagues, and teaching his students. He was a brilliant man with a satirical sense of humour, and a passion and excitement for his science. Those of you who had the good fortune to know J-P know that he had a singular personality. He was equally at home discussing fundamental physics as he was imitating Statler and Waldorf from the Muppets.


Beyond this, J-P was a very kind person and a devoted family man. He was a great friend for many of us over many years, and our community has lost a great scientist and a dear friend.


Our thoughts are with J-P’s wife, Sherine, and his children. Curtin University will hold a memorial for J-P at a future date.


Regards,

Cathryn

_______________________________________________________
Cathryn Trott

Associate Professor
ARC Future Fellow

President, Astronomical Society of Australia

ARC Centre of Excellence for All Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D)

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research
Curtin University
Bentley WA, Australia

cathryn.trott at curtin.edu.au
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