Professor Andrew Taylor

Building on his early leadership in the development of the science drivers for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), Professor Andrew Taylor’s research over the past several years has focused on the pathway to SKA science in the area of the cosmic magnetic field — primarily through exploration and the interpretation of the polarisation properties of the galaxy and of extragalactic radio sources.

Taylor received a BSc degree in astronomy from the University of Western Ontario in 1976, and his PhD in physics (radio astronomy) from the University of British Columbia in 1982. He is currently South African Joint Research Chair in Radio Astronomy at the University of Cape Town and University of the Western Cape. Before coming to South Africa in 2014, Taylor was professor of astrophysics at the University of Calgary and director of the three-university Institute for Space Imaging Science.

Over the course of the past two decades he has used virtually all of the world’s most capable radio telescopes and arrays. He has extensive experience in aperture synthesis and radio interferometric imaging techniques that are central to the use of radio telescope arrays. Much of his research involved the leadership of large data-intensive observing programs that included global teams of collaborators — a paradigm that will be central to much of SKA’s key science.

Taylor has published over 200 professional scientific articles and edited four books. He has mentored over 50 young scientists in radio astrophysics and the techniques of radio imaging of the sky. 

He has served on numerous national and international committees and boards that impact planning and development of astronomy. He has played a leading role on the SKA since its inception, serving as founding executive secretary of the International SKA Steering Committee, founding chair of the International SKA Science Advisory Committee, vice-chair of the International SKA Science and Engineering Committee, and as a member of the International Board of the Preparatory Phase Program for the SKA and of the International Board of the SKA Organisation.