Meet Scott Kenyon, Ph.D.

Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations

Scott J. Kenyon, Ph.D. Senior Astrophysicist, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Dr. Kenyon is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and a recipient of the Copernicus Medal for his distinguished research. Scott Kenyon's research covers the formation of stars and planetary systems; hyper-velocity and runaway stars in the Milky Way; and the characteristics of binary star systems. He is a major authority on the development of proto-planetary disks around young stars. Dr. Kenyon was among the first to show that young stars with ages of only 1 million years can accrete material from surrounding disks of gas and dust. These disks typically contain enough material for a planetary system. Today, he develops numerical simulations for the formation of planetary systems.

Dr. Kenyon appeared on SftPublic's Contemporary Science Issues and Innovations September 15, 2015 to discuss The Formation of Stars and Planets. His discussion was particularly timely because it coincided with the exciting data coming from the New Horizons flyby mission to Pluto, which he describes in his article for the general public, In focus: New Horizons' crisp images shed new light on the origins of Pluto and its moons.