General and Scientific Director, SRON Netherlands Institute for Space Research
Michael Wise is the General and Scientific Director of SRON, the Netherlands Institute for Space Research and also holds an appointment as Professor of High Energy Astrophysics at the University of Amsterdam.
Prof. Wise obtained his PhD from the University of Virginia in 1992. After serving as a postdoc at Kitt Peak National Observatory, Wise joined the staff of the Chandra X-ray Science Center where he was part of the team that built and launched NASA’s flagship Chandra X-ray observatory. In 2006 he moved to the Netherlands to join the staff of ASTRON the Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy to work on the design and construction of the International LOFAR Telescope. While at ASTRON, he served as LOFAR project scientist and later Head of the Astronomy division before moving to SRON in 2018 as Director.
Prof. Wise is an experienced observational astronomer whose research combines radio and X-ray data to examine how the gases in galaxies interact with their central black holes and thus affect the evolution of the galaxy and the growth of the black hole itself. In addition to his research, he has over 30 years of experience in the design, construction, and operation of large-scale astronomical facilities as well the development of advanced instrumentation and analysis tools for astronomy. He has served on numerous review and advisory committees and is currently a member of the CSIRO ATNF Steering Committee, member of the COSPAR executive committee on behalf of the Netherlands, and vice-Chair of the ESA Science Programme Committee.
