Saul Rappaport

Saul Rappaport is a professor emeritus[1] of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Rappaport became assistant professor in the MIT Department of Physics in 1969 and became a full professor in 1981. From 1993 to 1995, he was head of the Astrophysics Division.

He received his A.B. from Temple University in 1963 and his Ph.D. from MIT in 1968.

His main research interest is in binary systems containing collapsed stars—white dwarfs, neutron stars[2] (including pulsars[3]), and black holes. He has authored numerous papers regarding the discovery of astronomical phenomena, such as the discovery of transiting exocomets[4] and the discovery of a quadruple star system containing two strongly interacting eclipsing binaries.[5]

He was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 1989 "for major contributions to our understanding of the evolution of binary stellar systems containing a compact member and for the determination of the masses of neutron stars" [6]

  1. ^ MIT faculty directory
  2. ^ "Astronomers cite X-rays in a star". The Telegraph. August 29, 1975. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  3. ^ "Scientists study puzzling X-ray". Tri City Herald. January 25, 1978. Retrieved July 16, 2011.
  4. ^ Rappaport, S.; Vanderburg, A.; Jacobs, T.; Lacourse, D.; Jenkins, J.; Kraus, A.; Rizzuto, A.; Latham, D. W.; Bieryla, A.; Lazarevic, M.; Schmitt, A. (2018). "Likely transiting exocomets detected by Kepler". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 474 (2): 1453–1468. arXiv:1708.06069. Bibcode:2018MNRAS.474.1453R. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2735. PMC 5943639. PMID 29755143.
  5. ^ Rappaport, S.; Vanderburg, A.; Jacobs, T.; Lacourse, D.; Jenkins, J.; Kraus, A.; Rizzuto, A.; Latham, D. W.; Bieryla, A.; Lazarevic, M.; Schmitt, A. (2018). "Likely transiting exocomets detected by Kepler". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 474 (2): 1453–1468. arXiv:1708.06069. Bibcode:2018MNRAS.474.1453R. doi:10.1093/mnras/stx2735. PMC 5943639. PMID 29755143.
  6. ^ "APS Fellow Archive". APS. Retrieved 5 October 2020.