Paul L. Schechter

William A. M. Burden Professor of Astrophysics, Emeritus
Played a major role in the development and implementation of the active optics system for the 6.5-m Magellan Telescopes.
Research Areas
Astrophysics Observation, Instrumentation, and Experiment
(617) 253-0690
Office: Ronald McNair Building, 37-664G
Affiliated Center(s): MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research
Assistant: Ty’Shauna Ross

Research Interests

Professor Schechter is an observational astronomer who studies galaxies and clusters of galaxies and the distribution of dark matter therein. For the last several years, he has been carrying out ground-based optical and Hubble Space Telescope observations of the mirages produced by extragalactic gravitational potentials. Schechter played a major role in the development and implementation of the active optics system for the 6.5-m Magellan Telescopes, located on Cerro Las Campanas in Chile.

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Biographical Sketch

Paul Schechter received his undergraduate degree from Cornell in 1968 and his Ph.D. from Caltech in 1975. Before coming to MIT in 1988, he held postdoctoral positions at the Institute for Advanced Study and the University of Arizona, a faculty position at Harvard, and staff positions at Kitt Peak National Observatory and the Carnegie Observatories.

Awards & Honors

  • 2003 // National Academy of Sciences Member
  • 2001 // John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship

Key Publications

  • “Quasar Microlensing at High Magnification and the Role of Dark Matter: Enhanced Fluctuations and Suppressed Saddlepoints,” Paul L. Schechter and Joachim Wambsganss, submitted to Ap.J.

  • “Microlensing of Relativistic Knots in the Quasar HE1104-1805,” P. L. Schechter, A. Udalski, M. Szymanski et al., submitted to Ap.J.

  • “Tales within Tales and Cutoffs within Cutoffs: What Sets the Mass Scale for Galaxies?” Paul L. Schechter, to be published in Lighthouses of the Universe, eds. Sunyaev et al.