Martha P. Haynes


Martha Patricia Haynes is an American astronomer who specializes in radio astronomy and extragalactic astronomy. She is the Goldwin Smith Professor of Astronomy at Cornell University. She has been on a number of high-level committees within the US and International Astronomical Community, including Advisory Committee for the Division of Engineering and Physical Sciences of the National Academies and Astronomy and Astrophysics Decadal Review. She was a Vice-President of the Executive Committee of the International Astronomical Union from 2006–2012, and has been on the Board of Trustees of Associated Universities Inc since 1994.

Academic career

Haynes graduated from Wellesley College in 1973 with a B.A. in physics and astronomy. She went to Indiana University for graduate school. There she received her M.A. in 1975 and her Ph.D. in 1978. From 1978 until 1981 she worked at the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center when she left to become the assistant director for the Green Bank Telescope. She joined the faculty at Cornell in 1983. There she worked with collaborator Riccardo Giovanelli, using radio telescopes to map the distribution of galaxies in the Universe.

Honors and awards

Haynes is married to longtime collaborator Riccardo Giovanelli. They live in New York.

Selected publications