Mathew Owens


Mathew Owens is a British physicist and professor of space physics at the University of Reading in the UK. He has made major contributions to the understanding of the solar wind and space weather.

Early life and education

Owens grew up in Wrexham, Wales, before graduating with an MSci in Physics with Space Science from University College London. He was awarded a doctorate from Imperial College London in 2003 in the field of Space Weather.

Research career

His first postdoctoral position was at the Center for Space Physics, Boston University where he was part of the Consortium in Space-weather Modelling and worked with Prof Nancy Crooker from 2004 to 2008. In 2008, he returned to Imperial College London as a senior research associate until joining the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading in 2010.
Owens has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles on a variety of topics including the heliospheric magnetic field, the source of the slow solar wind, empirical and physics-based space-weather and reconstructions of long-term solar variability.
His research has often been cited in the national and international press, including the BBC, The Guardian, The Independent, New Scientist, Scientific American, and IFLScience. Owens' work is also regularly highlighted in the main news journal of the American Geophysical Union, EOS.
Owens is a Co-Investigator for the Solar Orbiter magnetometer instrument. He leads an International Space Science Institute team focused on recalibrating the sunspot record.

Awards and recognition