Dr Ken Smith and Dr David Young, who both work in the Astrophysics Research Centre (ARC) in the School of Mathematics and Physics, have been awarded the 2024 IOP Business, Higher Education and National Research Facility Technician Award.

They are software engineers who work as part of the supernova research group within ARC. Their work underpins many of the most significant discoveries in the field over the last 15 years, including the first detection of optical light from a gravitational wave source; the first link between extreme supernovae and massive hydrogen-poor stars; the first discovery of a star interacting with a fast-spinning supermassive black hole; and the discovery of the fastest and brightest supernova ever seen in a nearby galaxy.

The IOP said the pair were being internationally recognised for their technical expertise, exceptional software skills and dedication to astrophysics, enabling world-leading discoveries and the formation of a European supernova community.

It added that they “bring exceptional software skills and a deep understanding of the importance of software infrastructure in modern science. Their technical expertise and dedication to astrophysics are a powerful combination for the supernova group and its international collaborations.”

Dr Smith designs and manages the fundamental databases storing billions of source detections from the Asteroid Terrestrial-Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) and Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) surveys, two of the major sky surveys that have revolutionised time-domain astronomy.

He has built a complex end-to-end data processing system to serve all detections from these surveys to the team and the public, enabling rapid target selection and follow-up observations.

Dr Young created a code to match every new source in the sky to every major astronomical catalogue, allowing new sources to be classified rapidly. He also built and maintains the marshal software used by the Public European Southern Observatory Spectroscopic Survey of Transient Objects (PESSTO) to manage all their observations, leading to nearly 300 papers.

The PESSTO Marshall enables hundreds of users to collaborate in real-time and schedule observations effectively. Dr Young is now leading the development of spectroscopic processing software for the next major European supernova survey.

Commenting on the award, Dr Smith said:

“I'm very honoured to have been nominated for this award by my colleagues. I have the good fortune to be working with an energetic team that highly values the work we do behind the scenes to help them exploit the enormous amount of data generated by telescopes operated by partner institutions all over the world.

“I'd also like to acknowledge the excellent (and many times out-of-hours) support that we receive from IT managers at Queen’s, without whom it is impossible to build and operate our pipelines.”

Dr Young added:

“It's a delight to win any award, but better still to have received an award for which our colleagues nominated us. It means a lot to me to receive such recognition from the people I work alongside every day.

"This award is not just a reflection of our individual efforts but also a testament to the incredible teamwork and support our group shares.”

Head of the School of Maths and Physics, Professor Marty Gregg said:

“Research software engineers are the engine-room of many modern projects. Their work facilitates quite remarkable, rapid data-processing projects that allow international teams to find the most extreme explosions in the Universe. We are proud of Dave and Ken’s achievements and the high level of scientific discovery that they have enabled.

“We also know they are extremely generous with their time, helping and assisting students and early-career researchers to make these astronomical discoveries.”

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Inquiries to Una Bradley u.bradley@qub.ac.uk