Marinaupu: Adding Some Data From Scratch.

2026-02-12T03:14:48Z

Adding Some Data From Scratch.

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{{Short description|Indian astrophysicist and astronomer}}
{{Independent sources|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Thushara Pillai
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| othername =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = 20 June 1980
| birth_place = [[Kerala|Kerala, India]]
| death_date =
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| alma_mater = [[Government Women's College, Thiruvananthapuram]]<br>[[IIT Madras]]<br>[[Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy]]
| occupation = Astrophysicist and astronomer
| years_active =
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| spouse = Jens Kauffmann
| children =
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| father =
}}
'''Thushara Pillai''' is an Indian astrophysicist and astronomer with a senior research scientist position at [[Boston University]]'s Institute for Astrophysical Research<ref name=bu>{{Cite web|title=Thushara Pillai {{!}} Institute for Astrophysical Research|url=https://www.bu.edu/iar/profile/thushara-pillai/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=www.bu.edu}}</ref> and MIT Haystack Observatory.<ref name=haystack>{{cite web|title=Thushara Pillai | url=https://www.haystack.mit.edu/researcher/thushara-g-s-pillai/}}</ref> Her research interests have included [[molecular cloud]]s, high-mass [[star formation]], [[magnetic field]]s, [[astrochemistry]], and the [[Galactic Center]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Thushara G.S. Pillai|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=TxPyoYEAAAAJ&hl=en|access-date=2021-12-12|website=scholar.google.com}}</ref> She is known for her work that looked to understand star formation by observing magnetized interstellar clouds, and Pillai is the first astronomer to capture images of magnetic fields reorienting near areas of star formation.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Sechler|first=Ronald|title=Gazing into Magnetized Interstellar Clouds to Understand How Stars Are Born|url=https://www.bu.edu/articles/2020/gazing-into-magnetized-interstellar-clouds-to-understand-how-stars-are-born/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=Boston University|date=9 October 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

== Early life and education ==
Pillai was born 20 June 1980 in [[Kerala|Kerala, India]] to parents P. Gopalakrishna Pillai and K. S. Shyamala Kumar.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Prasanna |first1=Laxmi Ajai |title=Keralite astronomer in Nasa team that found rare cloud |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/keralite-astronomer-in-nasa-team-that-found-rare-cloud/articleshow/18652291.cms |work=The Times of India |agency=TNN |date=24 February 2013 }}</ref> She attended [[Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom|KV Pattom]] where she was a 1997 Class XII Batch alumna, and Pillai's mother was a teacher at this government day school.<ref name=":2">{{cite news |last1=Faisal |first1=S. L. |title=An interview with Astronomer Dr. Thushara Pillai |url=https://kvpattomemagazine.wordpress.com/2021/06/20/an-interview-with-astronomer-dr-thushara-pillai/ |work=KV Pattom E-Zine |date=20 June 2021 }}</ref> Pillai's parents and teachers from an early age encouraged her to pursue physics and higher education.<ref name=":2" />

Pillai attended Government Women's College in [[Thiruvananthapuram]] to receive her BSc in physics.<ref name=":3">{{cite news |last1=Krishnachand |first1=K |title=Malayali scientist finds how stars form, makes state proud |url=https://www.newindianexpress.com/states/kerala/2021/feb/06/malayali-scientist-finds-how-stars-form-makes-state-proud-2260216.html |work=The New Indian Express |date=6 February 2021 }}</ref> Then, she pursued her Masters in Physics at [[IIT Madras]], where one summer, she was given the opportunity to participate in an astronomy project at the National Center for Radio Astronomy in Pune, pushing her interest toward astronomy and astrophysics.<ref name=":2" /> She completed her highest education, a PhD in astronomy, at the [[Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy]] in Germany.<ref name=":3" />

== Career ==
Pillai holds the position of Senior Research Scientist at Boston University's Institute for Astrophysical Research. She also held a guest researcher position at her alma mater, the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy, where she worked in the Department of Millimeter and [[Submillimetre astronomy|Submillimeter Astronomy]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|title=Dr. Thushara Pillai {{!}} Max-Planck-Institute for Radio Astronomy|url=https://www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de/person/34123/2169|access-date=2021-12-12|website=www.mpifr-bonn.mpg.de}}</ref> There, her research focused on early phase chemistry, infrared dark clouds, high mass star formation, and star formation and cloud evolution in the galactic center.<ref name=":4" />

== Research ==
[[File:Magnetic Field Structure in Serpents South Cluster.jpg|thumb|Artistic rendition of the magnetic field structures observed in Pillai's research<ref>{{cite news |last1=Pillai |first1=Thushara G.S. |title=Magnetized gas flows feeding a young cluster at the heart of a filamentary network |url=https://astronomycommunity.nature.com/posts/magnetized-gas-flows-feeding-a-young-cluster-at-the-heart-of-a-filamentary-network |work=Nature Portfolio Astronomy Community |date=16 August 2020 }}</ref>]]
Pillai is most known for her paper published in ''[[Nature Astronomy]]'', "Magnetized filamentary gas flows feeding the young embedded cluster in [[Serpens South]]."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pillai |first1=Thushara G. S. |last2=Clemens |first2=Dan P. |last3=Reissl |first3=Stefan |last4=Myers |first4=Philip C. |last5=Kauffmann |first5=Jens |last6=Lopez-Rodriguez |first6=Enrique |last7=Alves |first7=F. O. |last8=Franco |first8=G. a. P. |last9=Henshaw |first9=Jonathan |last10=Menten |first10=Karl M. |last11=Nakamura |first11=Fumitaka |last12=Seifried |first12=Daniel |last13=Sugitani |first13=Koji |last14=Wiesemeyer |first14=Helmut |title=Magnetized filamentary gas flows feeding the young embedded cluster in Serpens South |journal=Nature Astronomy |date=December 2020 |volume=4 |issue=12 |pages=1195–1201 |doi=10.1038/s41550-020-1172-6 |arxiv=2009.14100 |bibcode=2020NatAs...4.1195P |s2cid=221995526 }}</ref> This paper shed light on the extent to which molecular clouds in space play a role in star formation.<ref name=":1" /> A grant from the [[National Science Foundation|National Science Foundation's]] Division of Astronomical Sciences to Boston University helped support this research, which used data from [[NASA|NASA's]] [[Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy]] (SOFIA). Using this technology, Pillai and her team were able to construct images of magnetic fields' directions and structures near the site of star formation.<ref name=":1" /> These images are useful to current and future understandings of interstellar space star formation.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

Much of Pillai's research has been done with support from NASA, the German Space Center, the [[Universities Space Research Association]], the National Science Foundation, the Bonn-Cologne Graduate School, the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, and Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais.<ref name=":1" /> She often works with her husband, Jens Kauffmann, who is an astronomer affiliated with the [[California Institute of Technology]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Selected publications ===
* {{cite journal |last1=Pillai |first1=T. |last2=Wyrowski |first2=F. |last3=Carey |first3=S. J. |last4=Menten |first4=K. M. |title=Ammonia in infrared dark clouds |journal=Astronomy & Astrophysics |date=May 2006 |volume=450 |issue=2 |pages=569–583 |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20054128 |arxiv=astro-ph/0601078 |bibcode=2006A&A...450..569P |s2cid=14760432 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kauffmann |first1=Jens |last2=Pillai |first2=Thushara |title=How Many Infrared Dark Clouds Can form Massive Stars and Clusters? |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=7 October 2010 |volume=723 |issue=1 |pages=L7–L12 |doi=10.1088/2041-8205/723/1/l7 |arxiv=1009.1617 |bibcode=2010ApJ...723L...7K |s2cid=13386380 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Kauffmann |first1=Jens |last2=Pillai |first2=Thushara |last3=Goldsmith |first3=Paul F. |title=Low Virial Parameters in Molecular Clouds: Implications for High Mass Star Formation and Magnetic Fields |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=4 December 2013 |volume=779 |issue=2 |pages=185 |doi=10.1088/0004-637x/779/2/185 |arxiv=1308.5679 |bibcode=2013ApJ...779..185K |s2cid=19953338 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Qizhou |last2=Wang |first2=Yang |last3=Pillai |first3=Thushara |last4=Rathborne |first4=Jill |title=Fragmentation at the Earliest Phase of Massive Star Formation |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=15 April 2009 |volume=696 |issue=1 |pages=268–273 |doi=10.1088/0004-637x/696/1/268 |arxiv=0902.0647 |bibcode=2009ApJ...696..268Z |s2cid=17257286 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Pillai |first1=T. |last2=Kauffmann |first2=J. |last3=Tan |first3=J. C. |last4=Goldsmith |first4=P. F. |last5=Carey |first5=S. J. |last6=Menten |first6=K. M. |title=Magnetic Fields in High-mass Infrared Dark Clouds |journal=The Astrophysical Journal |date=16 January 2015 |volume=799 |issue=1 |pages=74 |doi=10.1088/0004-637x/799/1/74 |arxiv=1410.7390 |bibcode=2015ApJ...799...74P |s2cid=7676150 }}

== References ==
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, Thushara}}
[[Category:Women astronomers]]
[[Category:Women astrophysicists]]
[[Category:21st-century Indian astronomers]]
[[Category:Indian astrophysicists]]
[[Category:Boston University faculty]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1980 births]]

Thushara Pillai - Revision history

Marinaupu: Adding Some Data From Scratch.