Prof Anna Watts

Prof Anna Watts

@profannawatts.bsky.social

Professor of Astrophysics @ Univ. of Amsterdam. Neutron stars, pulsars, dense matter, X-ray astronomy. Mom, Migrant. "Particles in stars blah blah". Does science with NICER on the International Space Station and schemes for EVEN BIGGER SPACE TELESCOPES.

10.4K followers522 following935 posts

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Nobody prepares you for the horrors of parenting teenagers. Last night I got home to one child finishing a 9 hour cake baking and decorating extravaganza. Today the other one and her friends are crowded in our kitchen making onigiri.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Very sad to hear that Henk Spruit, a legend in all things magnetohydrodynamical, has passed away. Although he spent much of his career at MPA in Garching, he held a Professorship by Special Appointment at our institute for quite some time. A great scientist, lovely human and not a fan of shoes.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Next week we are supposed to move back up (several weeks late) to our freshly renovated institute. My shiny office will be directly above my current temporary one. Everything should, by this point, be ready to go. BUT CAN I STILL HEAR DRILLING FROM DIRECTLY ABOVE MY HEAD? WHY YES I CAN.

Prof Anna Watts reposted

Chris Lintott
@chrislintott.bsky.social

As expected, the Prime Minister's promise to sort out the mess of funding for Jodrell actually meant nothing - it seems the government would like it to be some sort of heritage theme park when you can go and see where we used to do science. 🔭

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social

'The University of Manchester is seeking alternative funding sources to keep scientific work at Jodrell Bank going after hearing that lost UK Research and Innovation funding would not be restored despite interventions by the prime minister.'

timeshighereducation.comManchester seeks alternative Jodrell funds despite Burnham pledgeUniversity exploring new revenue streams to continue important scientific research at site, as astronomers remain concerned about the future of facility

Prof Anna Watts reposted

Julianne Dalcanton
@dalcantonjd.bsky.social

Like many scientists, I’ve been mulling over the impact of LLMs on our fields. I’ve not yet seen it articulated, but I think there is a largely unspoken “invisible labor underclass” framework at play.

Prof Anna Watts reposted

McSweeney's
@mcsweeneys.net

"I don’t know what every person in that group saw or knew. But I am raising one of the others. The boy who might someday be in the room. Or holding the phone. The boy who didn’t do it. The boy who could therefore spend the rest of his life explaining that he didn’t do anything." buff.ly/z7yWbR2

buff.lyAn Open Letter to Cornell University from the Mother of a Prospective Male Student“Seven former Cornell students are accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting another Cornell student who says she was incapacitated. Messages alleged...

Prof Anna Watts reposted

Ben Coates
@bencoates1.bsky.social

In 2023 Pieter Omtzigt’s NSC won twenty seats in parliament and joined the governing coalition running the country. Yesterday their last elected representative, Dirk Gotink, resigned. As of 2026 they have 0 MPs and 0 MEPs Has a party ever imploded so completely? nos.nl/artikel/2633...

nos.nlLaatste actieve NSC'er vertrekt, wil niet samenwerken met Mona KeijzerKeijzer spreekt zaterdag op de algemene ledenvergadering van NSC, dat geen Kamerleden en ook geen partijleider meer heeft.
Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Our Masters students have been reviewing this fantastic paper as part of our 'Open Problems in Modern Astrophysics' course this week. Using neutron stars to constrain the properties of quarks at densities far above those you can reach in the stars themselves. journals.aps.org/prl/abstract...

journals.aps.orgAstrophysical Equation-of-State Constraints on the Color-Superconducting GapWe demonstrate that astrophysical constraints on the dense-matter equation of state place an upper bound on the color-superconducting gap in dense matter above the transition from nuclear matter to qu...
Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

It's a very different vocabulary to the one they are used to from more traditional 'astro' papers. But fun fun fun. And if you work on neutron stars, you'll be hard pushed not to get sucked into the world of quarks!

Prof Anna Watts reposted

maura quint
@mauraquint.bsky.social

Yes every woman has been harassed, many assaulted. But every woman has also experienced invisible loss from moments she avoided harassment. She felt a space becoming unsafe, so she left, while men stayed on. And in leaving, she lost: opportunities, experiences, learning, promotions, even simply fun.

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Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Why talk about it all? Why not just focus on the good things about the weekend? WelI, I would love to do that, but harassers flourish in silence. They rely on us to be embarrassed, to keep silent, to try to just forget it ever happened, to keep their actions secret.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

So we break the silence. We tell our mutual friends. And we mentally propel the sleazy bastards into the nearest star. [And to anyone who thinks women don't have to deal with this crap when they get older lol nope, still going on].

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Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

I made the mistake of taking the window seat in a row, so even though we were in a group, I got boxed in and blocked off. And he grabbed the chance to take the discussion off in an explicit and utterly unwelcome direction.🤮

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

It was way more over the line than I had anticipated having to handle, by a mile, but the pre-loaded "You need to stop, this is absolutely not OK." did eventually make its way out. The adrenaline still flared though. I got out of there as fast as I could when I got to London.

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Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

From the get-go, it was more than that. Lots of sexual innuendo, not really directed at me (also in group), but just a general attempt to move discussions to a place where it was easy to make sorties across boundaries. The sort of stuff that would get you booted at work. Not cool.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Alarms were going, but I figured in a group setting, and mostly hanging out with other friends, I could get through the weekend. And that worked! It was lovely. Until the train ride back to London.

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Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

For most, things are perfectly normal. We've all grown, matured, boundaries of existing relationships are respected. But. There's often one where it's not. Where you just get an uneasy feeling that your boundaries might not be respected. I have one of those.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

So I hoped for the best. But I went with a pre-loaded mental response to stop anything in its tracks in case it got a bit weird. I had anticipated maybe some maudlin reminiscing, that kind of thing.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Last weekend I was back in Oxford for a college reunion. A chance to catch up with old friends. But like many in the room (so many that it was a joke in the speech) I have exes who were also there.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

Genuinely picked the worst weekend imaginable for a trip. I have so much to do that I couldn't do it even if I pulled a full caffeine powered no sleep weekend-o-work. HOW AM I STILL GETTING INTO THESE DEADLINE CRISES AT MY AGE?

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

It is designed to launch excellent researchers from underrepresented groups into faculty positions in the Netherlands or abroad. The fellowship is open to researchers in all fields of experimental and theoretical physics.

Prof Anna Watts
@profannawatts.bsky.social

I'm not an IOP staff member, but I have colleagues there working on the dense matter equation of state, supernova simulations, gravitational waves, binary mergers, dark matter, and fundamental aspects of relativity. So if you fit the profile, give it a go!