Becky Smethurst

Becky Smethurst
Smethurst smiling and presenting with sunglasses on top of her head
Smethurst in 2014
Born
Rebecca Jane Smethurst
CitizenshipBritish
EducationBolton School Girls' Division
Alma mater
Known forA Brief History of Black Holes
Awards
  • Caroline Herschel Prize (2020)
  • Mary Somerville Medal (2020)
Scientific career
FieldsSupermassive black hole evolution
Institutions
ThesisThe influence of morphology, AGN and environment on the quenching histories of galaxies (2017)
Doctoral advisorChris Lintott
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2015–present
Genre(s)Science outreach (Astronomy and astrophysics)
Subscribers769 thousand[1]
Total views88.03 million[1]
Contents are inNorthern English English (Lancashire accent)[2]
Associated actsSixty Symbols (as an anchor)[3][4]
Royal Astronomical Society (as co-creator of The Supermassive Podcast )[5]

Last updated: 24 October 2024
Websiterebeccasmethurst.co.uk

Rebecca Smethurst, also known as Dr. Becky, is a British astrophysicist, author, and YouTuber who is a Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellow[6] at the University of Oxford. She was the recipient of the 2020 Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship, awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society, as well as the 2020 Mary Somerville Medal and Prize, awarded by the Institute of Physics. In 2022, she won the Royal Astronomical Society's Winton Award "for research by a post-doctoral fellow in Astronomy whose career has shown the most promising development".

As a researcher, Smethurst studies the role that supermassive black holes play in inhibiting different types of galaxies from forming stars. She is a member of the Galaxy Zoo collaboration, run by her doctoral advisor, Chris Lintott. Smethurst hosts her own YouTube channel, called Dr. Becky, where she posts science communication videos related to astronomy research and amateur astronomy. She has also written two popular science books, titled Space: 10 Things You Should Know and A Brief History of Black Holes.

  1. ^ a b "About Dr. Becky". YouTube.
  2. ^ "JWST finds water where planets are forming around a star | Night Sky News Aug 2023". YouTube. 17 August 2023. Retrieved 17 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Making a Mark – Sixty Symbols". youtube.com. 17 February 2017. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference brilliant was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference smpodcast was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Dr Becky Smethurst | University of Oxford Department of Physics". www.physics.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 28 May 2024.