Professor Sera Markoff has been appointed as the 17th Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy at the University of Cambridge. This position, established in 1704 by Thomas Plume after oversight from Sir Isaac Newton, is among the oldest named professorships globally. Previous holders include notable astronomers such as Sir Arthur Eddington, Sir Fred Hoyle, and Lord Martin Rees.
In addition to her new role, Professor Markoff will become a Fellow at Newnham College. She is recognized internationally for her work in black hole astrophysics and astroparticle physics. Her research investigates how matter interacts around compact objects like black holes and explores their influence on surrounding environments.
Markoff is a founding member of the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) collaboration, which coordinated telescopes worldwide to capture the first image of a black hole's event horizon in 2019. She currently serves as Full Professor of theoretical high energy astrophysics at the Anton Pannekoek Institute for Astronomy at the University of Amsterdam. She will be both the 17th person and the first woman to hold this professorship at Cambridge.
“I’m thrilled to be starting a new chapter of my career at Cambridge. Many amazing people in my field have held this position before me, so it’s an incredible opportunity to be able to carry the baton forward. I really enjoy bringing people together and building up new initiatives, and Cambridge offers a uniquely stimulating environment to further develop the field of astroparticle physics and black hole research, both within the University and UK-wide," said Markoff.
She added: “Among other things, I’m interested in how black holes manage to accelerate high-energy particles to energies millions of times what is achievable on Earth at CERN. So that these objects become our fundamental physics laboratories in space, to explore physics in regimes we can never hope to reproduce here. There’s huge potential to grow this field at Cambridge, especially within the Kavli Institute for Cosmology because of where it sits at the interface of physics and astrophysics.”
Encouraging diversity in science is another priority for Markoff, who described her own entry into astrophysics as “non-traditional.” She noted: “I didn’t come from a scientific or academic family, so my interest in astrophysics really just came from reading science fiction and comic books. Given that I thought I would go to art school, it was quite an odd thing for me to be interested in, but these books exposed me to the ideas of black holes and instilled a desire to explore the Universe. I was also lucky enough to have many supportive teachers, but I never seriously thought that I would be able to go into a career like this – now I like to joke that I do sci-fi for a living.”
Her appointment coincides with Newnham College celebrating Dr Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin—an alumna whose thesis on stellar composition marks its centenary this December with commemorative events.
“There’s still a stereotype about who does this kind of work, and also a lack of opportunity for many people to study science,” said Prof Markoff. “I consistently strive to improve opportunity and access, particularly for people who don’t have advantages. It’s one of the reasons I wanted to affiliate with Newnham College, and of course the connection with Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin resonated with me. She needed to leave Cambridge for the US to be able to study for a PhD in astronomy, and ended up making huge breakthroughs in our understanding of stars. But she persisted, and as the first female astronomy professor at Harvard really paved the way for us all."
“It’s an enormous privilege to be able to live your life being curious, and I feel very strongly that science is something anybody can do if they are interested enough, and if they put the work in.”
Markoff earned her undergraduate degree from MIT before completing her PhD in theoretical astrophysics at University of Arizona in 2000.
Discussing her research focus on black holes she said: “To me they represent the edge of our understanding of our universe, and they are endlessly fascinating. They get a bad rap because often people just think of them as big vacuum cleaners but they actually play a very important role in ecosystem of universe... One thing I like about Cambridge is there are other people working on other parts puzzle.”
The EHT project brought together millimetre-radio telescopes worldwide functioning as one virtual telescope; its images published in 2019 (and again in 2022) showed two black holes’ shadows surrounded by rings—images widely circulated globally.
Prof Markoff recalled: “It was extremely exciting...we were under pressure publish data...it was biggest telescope we could build without going space...level precision achieved incredible—it’s effectively like standing UK being able read newspaper New York.”
She noted ongoing efforts aimed at expanding EHT's capacity both terrestrially—and eventually via space-based instruments—to increase sensitivity enabling frequent imaging campaigns including attempts set for coming spring aiming make "the first movie" depicting dynamic changes near black holes.
Additionally she co-leads construction efforts on an extra telescope located Namibia designed further boost EHT capabilities especially regarding rapid imaging smaller faster-changing targets.
“Going into space will eventually allow us make images many more black holes...you need population correctly understand trends,” she said.
Professor Mark Wyatt (Co-Director Institute Astronomy) commented: “The Institute Astronomy delighted welcome Professor Sera Markoff next Plumian Professor...positions provide opportunity attract extraordinary talent UK Professor Markoff no exception."
“Professor Markoff brings exciting scientific programme study accretion onto black holes carried out through observations using cutting edge astronomical facilities computational simulations underlying processes…vision interdisciplinary approach shape landscape astronomy decades come not just across Cambridge but nationally internationally.”
At Cambridge's Institute Astronomy there are two named professorships—the Plumian Professorship alongside Professor Astrophysics (held since 2023 by Hiranya Peiris).