Core expertise
Galaxies
Active Galactic Nuclei
Astronomical Surveys
Cosmology
Large-Scale galactic structure
Biography
Michael is an observational astronomer who studies the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time. Michael’s research team has found that the most massive galaxies grow relatively slowly, and that the relationship between stellar mass and dark matter mass evolves very little over billions of years.
His 2014 atlas of galaxy spectral energy distributions is being used to improve estimates of cosmic distances, calibrate how rapidly galaxies form stars and model the performance of NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope.
Michael is a passionate and effective communicator who is interested in a broad range of astronomy, science philosophy and science policy topics, including Australia’s role in global space research and discovery.
