Professor Freeman earned a B.Sc. in Mathematics from the University of Western Australia in 1962, and a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics from the University of Cambridge in 1965. Following his Ph.D., he was the W.J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellow working with Antoinette and Gérard de Vaucouleurs at The University. After a year as a Research Fellow at Trinity College, Cambridge, he returned to Australia to a long highly distinguished career at The Australian National University where he is currently the Duffield Professor in the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Institute of Advanced Studies.

Program Mon., Jan. 26, 2004 RLM 15.216B 3:00 p.m. Presentation of the Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Medal to Ken Freeman by Don Winget, Chair, Department of Astronomy and Reception in Frank N. Edmonds Lounge 3:30 p.m. The Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Memorial Lecture by Ken Freeman: Galactic Disks abstract Tues., Jan. 27, 2004 UTC 2.102A 4:00 p.m. Popular Lecture by Ken Freeman: Globular Clusters - Cannonballs of the Cosmos

Professor Freeman's research has concentrated on the formation, dynamics, and evolution of globular clusters and galaxies, including the Milky Way galaxy. His ground-breaking work on spiral galaxies has spawned an industry trying to understand how these galaxies acquire their mass. His observational work on the components of our own Milky Way galaxy is of fundamental importance to theoretical models for its formation. He has also led significant efforts trying to measure the dark halo content in galaxies of all masses. Freeman was one of the first astronomers to point out that spiral galaxies are rich in dark matter. By synthesizing results over all galaxy types, Professor Freeman places himself in a unique position to make advances into one of the most important problems of our times: the nature of dark matter. He is clearly one of the most important figures in astronomy, advancing understanding of how galaxies form and evolve. His publications total more than 400 and are very frequently cited. The Information Sciences Institute (ISI) named him as one of Australia's most cited scientist from all surveyed sciences. The ISI lists him in their list of 250 most highly-cited researchers in the space sciences.