SKA Organization Appoints New Director General for World’s Largest Telescope Project

The SKA Organization Board of Directors is very pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Philip Diamond as Director General of the SKA Organization.

Professor Diamond will provide overall leadership for the SKA Organization, the international coordinating body for the SKA telescope. The SKA will be the largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever built; it will enable astronomers to glimpse the formation and evolution of the very first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, investigate the nature of gravity, and possibly even discover life beyond Earth.

“The SKA telescope is now moving from technology concept to the final detailed design. I am humbled to have the opportunity to lead the SKA Organization during this exciting time and to work with colleagues around the world to realize the science vision of the SKA.” said Professor Diamond, commenting on his appointment.

Professor Diamond will lead the pre-construction phase of the SKA, with the goal of realizing construction readiness at the end of 2015, and preparing for the construction phase to follow. He will develop and maintain strategic relationships with national agencies, partners, governments, industry and other private sector entities, along with all other project stakeholders.

Professor John Womersley, Chair of the board of the SKA Organization welcomed Professor Diamond to the project. “I am confident that Phil’s experience, energy and vision will drive the project forward and, working with the international partners, enable us to design and deliver the largest science facility on Earth. The SKA Board welcomes Phil to the SKA Organization and wishes him every success as the project enters this crucial detailed design phase.”

Professor Diamond has 30 years’ experience in the field of radio astronomy and a long standing involvement in the Square Kilometer Array radio telescope project. Professor Diamond will move from his current position as Chief of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS), Australia in October 2012 to lead the SKA Organization from the new headquarters at Jodrell Bank near Manchester, UK.

Professor Diamond has worked as a professional astronomer in five countries (UK, Sweden, Germany, USA and Australia) and has been the Director of two leading radio astronomy organizations: Jodrell Bank Center for Astrophysics and CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science (CASS). In his current role, as Chief of CASS, Professor Diamond directs the operation of two major facilities: the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF: comprising Parkes Observatory, the Australia Telescope Compact Array and the Mopra telescope) and the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (CDSCC) at Tidbinbilla, part of NASA’s Deep Space Network. In addition, he is responsible for the team designing and constructing ASKAP, the Australian SKA Pathfinder, currently being built in Western Australia.

He first became involved in the SKA in 2000, shortly after his return to the UK from 12 years at the NRAO in the USA, when he organized one of the early meetings of the International SKA Steering Committee (ISSC). Since that time, he has been heavily involved in various SKA activities. He was one of the longest-serving members of the ISSC, which later became the SSEC, and chaired the committee in 2005/6.

Professor Diamond will succeed Dr. Michiel van Haarlem, the interim Director General, who has been in the position since the establishment of the SKA Organization as a UK company limited by guarantee in December 2011.

Contacts:
Jo Bowler
Interim Outreach Officer
+44 (0)759 307 7153
bowler@skatelescope.org

Philip Diamond
+61 457 543507
philip.diamond@csiro.au

The Square Kilometer Array will be the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope. The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometer giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10,000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes. The SKA will be built in Southern Africa and in Australia. Thousands of receptors will extend to distances of up to 3,000 km from the central regions. The SKA will address fundamental unanswered questions about our universe including how the first stars and galaxies formed after the big bang, how dark energy is accelerating the expansion of the universe, the role of magnetism in the cosmos, the nature of gravity, and the search for life beyond Earth. The target construction cost is O1,500 million and construction of phase one of the SKA is scheduled to start in 2016. The SKA Organization, with its headquarters in Manchester UK, was established in December 2011 as a not-for-profit company in order to formalize relationships between the international partners and centralize the leadership of the project.