Becky Smethurst
Rebecca Smethurst, also known as Dr. Becky, is a British astrophysicist, author, and YouTuber who is a junior research fellow at the University of Oxford. She was the recipient of the 2020 Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship, awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society, as well as the 2020 Mary Somerville Medal and Prize, awarded by the Institute of Physics. In 2022, she won the Royal Astronomical Society's Winton Award "for research by a post-doctoral fellow in Astronomy whose career has shown the most promising development".
Becky Smethurst | |
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Smethurst in 2014 | |
| Born | Rebecca Jane Smethurst |
| Citizenship | British |
| Education | Bolton School Girls' Division |
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| Known for | A Brief History of Black Holes |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Supermassive black hole evolution |
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| Thesis | The influence of morphology, AGN and environment on the quenching histories of galaxies (2017) |
| Doctoral advisor | Chris Lintott |
YouTube information | |
| Channel | |
| Years active | 2015–present |
| Genre(s) | Science outreach (Astronomy and astrophysics) |
| Subscribers | 600 thousand |
| Total views | 54.90 million |
| Contents are in | Northern English English (Lancashire accent) |
| Associated acts | Sixty Symbols (as an anchor) Royal Astronomical Society (as co-creator of The Supermassive Podcast ) |
Last updated: 12 July 2023 | |
| Website | rebeccasmethurst |
As a researcher, Smethurst studies the role that supermassive black holes play in inhibiting different types of galaxies from forming stars. She is a member of the Galaxy Zoo collaboration, run by her doctoral advisor, Chris Lintott. Smethurst hosts her own YouTube channel, called Dr. Becky, where she posts science communication videos related to astronomy research and amateur astronomy. She has also written two popular science books, titled Space: 10 Things You Should Know and A Brief History of Black Holes.