The Directors - 2000s

Penny Sackett, Director 2002-2006

American astrophysicist Penny Sackett became Stromlo’s first female Director in 2002. After completing a PhD in theoretical physics, she worked as a journalist and university instructor before undertaking research focusing on microlensing in the Netherlands and United States. She founded the PLANET microlensing collaboration, aiding our understanding of extrasolar planets and stellar atmospheres.

Just six months after her appointment, Mount Stromlo Observatory was decimated by a bushfire in January 2003, and Sackett faced the almost unimaginable task of having to rebuild the Observatory. She focused on its strength – the development of astronomical instrumentation. This resulted in the development of the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre - a world-class facility manufacturing complex instruments for the Extremely Large Telescopes (ANU Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2017).

One of Sackett’s great legacies was initiating a partnership in the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), with the ANU team manufacturing an Integral-Field Spectrograph for the GMT, allowing astronomers to record spectra from each point across the field of view simultaneously. 

Despite the catastrophic losses of the 2003 bushfires, Sackett ensured Stromlo remained at the forefront of astronomical research and development during her directorship. After stepping down in 2006, she served as Chief Scientist of Australia (2008-11) as well as various boards including the ACT Climate Change Council and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. She is currently Honorary Professor at the ANU Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions.  

Harvey Butcher, Director 2007-2013

Harvey Butcher was born in the United States in 1947 and graduated with honours in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology before completing his PhD at ANU in 1974, during which time he studied the Southern Sky with the 74-inch Telescope’s Coudé Spectrograph. He then worked as a staff astronomer at Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory before relocating to The Netherlands in 1983, working at the University of Groningen, European Southern Observatory, and Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. 

In 2007 Butcher was appointed Director of Mount Stromlo & Siding Spring Observatories. Throughout his tenure, he focused on several key priorities. Firstly, he established a Stromlo Fellowship program and oversaw the construction of on-campus accommodation to entice talented astronomers to Canberra. He also continued to back the University’s commitment to the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) project. Butcher oversaw the construction of the SkyMapper Telescope and a new Wide Field Spectrograph (WiFeS) for Siding Spring’s 2.3m Telescope. The SkyMapper was used by Brian Schmidt to map the Southern Sky and assist in the discovery of rare and variable objects (ANU Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2017). Butcher also oversaw the completion of a new wing of the Advanced Instrumentation Technology Centre (AITC) and increased public outreach programs. 

Butcher retired as Director in January 2013. Astronomer Ken Freeman reflected that Butcher “leaves the Observatory in excellent condition, with high morale and a large complement of outstanding young researchers.” (ANU Research School of Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2017).

Matthew Colless, Director 2013-2022 

Matthew Colless graduated from the University of Sydney in 1982 before completing his PhD at the University of Cambridge. He was a Fellow at Arizona’s Kitt Peak National Observatory and the University of Cambridge before returning to Australia in 1993 as a Research Fellow at the Australian National University. In 2004, he was appointed Director of the Anglo-Australian Observatory / Australian Astronomical Observatory at Siding Spring, a position he held until 2012, when he was offered the Directorship of Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories. 

Colless’ research uses large spectroscopic surveys of galaxies to understand their formation and evolution, to map their structures and motions, and measure cosmological parameters. He has driven the development of multi-object spectroscopy in the field of statistical astronomy. His work on the 2dFGRS survey has firmly established the values of many key cosmological parameters including the determination of the Hubble constant, the cosmological constant, the matter density in the Universe, the baryonic to dark matter fraction, and an upper limit on the neutrino fraction (Australian Academy of Science, n.d.).

Colless is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, Astronomical Society of Australia, and Royal Astronomical Society; Member of the American Astronomical Society, International Astronomical Union, and European Southern Observatory Council; an ISI Citation Laureate; former Vice-President of the International Astronomical Union; a Founders’ Chair for the Giant Magellan Telescope project; and was awarded an Officer of the Order of Australia in 2023 “for distinguished service to scientific research, particularly to astronomy and astrophysics, and to professional societies”.     

Stuart Wyithe, Director 2022-current

Stuart Wyithe is the current Director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He became interested in astronomy as a child growing up in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. He was awarded his PhD in Astrophysics from The University of Melbourne in 2001, before completing his doctorate at Princeton University and becoming a Hubble Fellow at Harvard University. He then returned to Australia in 2002 to take up a Research Fellowship at the University of Melbourne. 

Wyithe' s research focus is on the evolution of the earliest galaxies and how this evolution may be studied with the next generation of telescopes including the Square Kilometre Array, the James Webb Space Telescope, the Giant Magellan Telescope, and Australia’s own Murchison Widefield Array and Skymapper. 

He has received several awards for this work, including an Australian Laureate Fellowship, the Pawsey Medal for Physics from the Australian Academy of Science, the Australian Institute of Physics Boas Medal, and the Malcolm McIntosh Prize for Physical Scientist of the Year. Upon receiving the latter in 2011, Professor Edwin Turner of the Princeton University Observatory declared Wyithe as the best young scientist he had worked with in 35 years of the faculties of Harvard and Princeton and “the most important and influential theoretical astrophysicist in Australia” (Science in Public, 2011).  

He has also held numerous leadership roles including President of the Astronomical Society of Australia and Chair of the Australian National Committee for Astronomy. In the latter role he chaired the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan 2015-2025.