Richard G. French
Research Interests and Activities: I am a planetary astronomer, and my research centers on the rings and atmospheres of the giant planets. I use large optical telescopes around the world, the enormous radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, and the Hubble Space Telescope to obtain images of Saturn’s rings, atmosphere, and small moons. I’ve been a team member of the Cassini Mission to Saturn since 1990. After a seven-year interplanetary journey, this bus-sized spacecraft is about to begin a four-year orbital tour of this beautiful ringed planet. From 2004-2008, my students and I will be active rocket scientists as we instruct the giant spacecraft to observe Saturn’s rings and atmosphere. With my students, I sometimes chase the shadows of the rings of Uranus as the planet passes in front of a distant star. From these stellar occultations, we learn about the structure and orbital properties of the rings, in a physics experiment of grand scale. I’ve just begun a new project to travel around the world with a small student-operated telescope to observe Pluto and Triton (Neptune’s largest moon) when they pass in front of distant stars. We’ll use these occultations to determine the temperature and density of the tenuous atmospheres of these cold and remote worlds.
Teaching Interests and Activities: I enjoy the opportunity to teach courses at all levels of the curriculum, from introductory courses for non-majors to upper-level astrophysics classes. I’m particularly interested in conveying to non-scientists what it is like to be an active scientist, and in helping students develop their quantitative skills and physical insight using astronomical examples. ASTR109 is a new course (“Our Place in Space and Time”) in which students use simple observations to determine our location on the Earth, the size of the Earth’s orbit, the brightness of the Sun, the tip of the Earth’s pole, and the distances to the most remote galaxies in the Universe.
Student Projects: One of the pleasures of being a professor at Wellesley is having the opportunity to work with students on current research projects. I often have summer students (from first years to seniors) to help me with my planetary astronomy research, and I’ve supervised both honors theses and independent study projects as well, on a wide range of topics.
Other Professional Interests and Activities: I travel widely to international conferences and to work with my collaborators around the world, often with the help of advanced students.
Additional Interests and Activities: I enjoy mountaineering, cooking, opera singing, canoeing, and rereading Moby Dick , the Canterbury Tales, and Dante’s Divine Comedy. I’ve just started learning the classical guitar.
Profile last updated: 6/04