Sheila Rowan (physicist)

Sheila Rowan (born 25 November 1969) is a Scottish physicist and academic, who is Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, and director of its Institute for Gravitational Research since 2009.

She is known for her work in advancing the detection of gravitation waves.

Rowan was born on 25 November 1969 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

She was educated at Maxwelltown High School, a comprehensive school in Dumfries.

She studied physics at the University of Glasgow, graduating with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in 1991 and a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree in 1995.

Her PhD was research on gravitational waves and was supervised by James Hough.

After her PhD, Rowan's work was split between the University of Glasgow and the Edward Ginzton Laboratory at Stanford University.

Since 2003, she has been based solely in Glasgow, and in 2006 was appointed Professor of Experimental Physics.

Rowan's research has focused on developing optical materials for use in gravitational wave detectors.

She led a team which worked on the international Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) collaboration.

This collaboration led in September 2015 to the detection of gravitational waves for the first time after Albert Einstein's prediction.

In 2016, Rowan was appointed the (part-time) Chief Scientific Advisor to the Scottish Government.

In June 2016, Rowan was seconded (part-time) to chief scientific advisor to the Scottish Government, a position vacant since December 2014, when Muffy Calder stood down.

In June 2021 she stepped down from this role and became the President of the Institute of Physics, taking up her post on 1 October 2021.

She was succeeded by Julie FitzPatrick who took up the post of Scotland's Chief Scientific Adviser on 14 June 2021.