Martin P. Rey
Astrophysicist and Assistant Professor/Lecturer at the University of Bath, working on the cosmic origin of the chemical elements.
I am an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in the Department of Physics at the University of Bath, where I lead a computational programme on how the first stars and galaxies produced the Universe's first chemical elements, and how that early enrichment is recorded in the Milky Way and its smallest companions today. I combine cosmological simulations, statistical modelling and observations, and I co-lead the international MEGATRON project.
My route into astrophysics was not the obvious one. I trained first as an aerospace engineer at ISAE-SUPAERO in Toulouse, where I was the student leader of EntrySat, a satellite designed, built and launched by students to study atmospheric re-entry. Drawn to more fundamental questions, I moved into theoretical physics: an MSc at Imperial College London, then a PhD at UCL with Andrew Pontzen and Amélie Saintonge.
I held a postdoctoral fellowship at Lund University and then a Beecroft Fellowship in Cosmology at the University of Oxford, before joining Bath as an Assistant Professor/Lecturer in 2024. I am a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and an editor for the Open Journal of Astrophysics.
Off the clock
Yes, my first degree really was rocket science. Somewhere along the way I caught the astrophysics bug and never quite recovered, which is how an engineer from France ended up simulating the first galaxies in the west of England.
When I am not working, you will usually find me at sea, ideally as far from the coast as possible.