Bios
Dr. Scott J. Kenyon
Senior Astrophysicist
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Dr. Scott J. Kenyon is a senior astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, Mass. Kenyon studies the formation of planetary systems, the evolution of interacting binary systems, the formation of low mass stars like our Sun, and the structure of circumstellar discs in young and old stars. His body of research has established symbiotic stars as a unique class of interacting binary star systems and provided some of the best indicators for proto-planetary discs in stars with ages of a few million years. Kenyon's recent efforts concentrate on planet formation in discs surrounding newly-formed stars. He and his colleagues also developed a sophisticated code to construct numerical models of planet formation. Kenyon received a bachelor's degree in physics from Arizona State University, Tempe, and his masters and doctorate in astronomy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received the Copernicus Medal from the Nicolaus Copernicus University (1987) and shared the Hoopes Prize of Harvard University with Jane Luu and Sarah Stewart (1995).
