Simon Dicker

Simon Dicker
Staff Lecturer

Research Associate and Lecturer

(215) 573-7612

DRL 1E2

After completing my undergraduate studies at Cambridge University in 1994 I went on to obtain a PhD from the University of Manchester, Jodrell Bank working on astronomical instrumentation.  I graduated in 1998 and moved to Philadelphia and took up a PostDoc position working for Mark Devlin.  I’m very lucky to be married to my wife Anne who I met in Philadelphia while ballroom dancing.

Research Interests

I have worked on instruments that operate from radio to submillimetre frequencies.  My scientific interests are to use these instruments to study the early universe however some of the instruments are equally powerful at revealing what is going on in our own galaxy and solar system.  My thesis project was a 33GHz interferometer used to observe fluctuations in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).  Since then I have worked on the cryogenics for a sub-millimeter balloon born telescope (BLAST), optics for the ACT and PAPPA projects, and I am one of the lead scientists on MUSTANG a 90GHz array for the 100m (330ft) Green Bank Telescope.  More details on these experiments are below and in some of my papers.

Selected Publications