Professor Dr Catherine Heymans

Research Priorities: Cosmology, astrophysics, extragalactic astrophysics, dark matter, dark energy, science communication
Catherine Heymans is a British astrophysicist. She studies the dark side of the universe - dark matter and dark energy. She employs the largest telescopes in the world to chart invisible dark matter and tests a variety of theories. Dark matter and dark energy Dark matter and dark energy probably make up 95 per cent of the universe but cannot be explained with the current understanding of theoretical physics. Thus, Catherine Heymans investigates one of the biggest questions of modern-day science.
Catherine Heymans is one of the leading experts on the so-called dark universe. With her research she attempts to ascertain the origin of the dark universe, how it is built, and what constitutes it. She expects that this is only possible with a “new physics” that will change the present view of the universe and might necessitate an expansion of Albert Einstein’s theory of gravitation.
She conducts her research with the aid of the world’s largest telescopes and the technology of “weak gravitational lensing” to map dark matter over the entire cosmic time span. She was able to witness how dark matter gravitation diverts light and coherently distorts images of far-away galaxies.
She prepares with her research team at the German Centre for Cosmological Lensing for the first received light at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in northern Chile. This will enable the hitherto deepest and widest image of the universe. The reflecting telescope will provide data with which Catherine Heymans can contrast conventional and unconventional cosmological models of our universe.
In 2021 Catherine Heymans became the first woman to be awarded the honorary title “Astronomer Royal for Scotland”. She is a passionate science communicator, regularly features as an expert at the BBC-radio and television, and is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusivity in the STEM fields.