Todd Thompson, a professor in the Department of Astronomy, has been appointed chair of the department beginning July 1, 2024.

Thompson is a theoretical astrophysicist whose research focuses on the evolution and impacts of massive stars such as the red supergiant Betelgeuse and what happens at the end of their lives. A former Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley and Lyman Spitzer Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton, Thompson received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching in 2014 and was named an Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar in 2020.

“I’m honored to be the new chair of one of the strongest astronomy and astrophysics departments in the country,” Thompson said. “Ohio State’s Department of Astronomy is well-known for its leading work across the discipline in carrying out new observations, in designing and building new instruments for cutting-edge telescopes, and in developing new theoretical ideas and simulations meant to explain and understand new astronomical discoveries.

“Our undergraduate major continues to grow as more students seek to work with and understand the new data constantly produced by the world’s telescopes and astronomical experiments. It is my great honor to lead these many efforts, and to steward the great works of our faculty, staff and students as best I’m able.”

He received his undergraduate degree in physics and philosophy from Lawrence University in 1997 and earned his master’s and PhD in physics at the University of Arizona in 2002. Thompson has been a faculty member at Ohio State since 2007, and previously served as the Department of Astronomy’s interim chair in 2020.