Mark Pearce

Mark Pearce is a Professor of Physics specializing in astroparticle physics at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. He holds positions in the School of Engineering Sciences and Department of Physics. His research focuses on developing instrumentation for X-ray polarimetry, including missions like PoGO+, X-Calibur, and XL-Calibur, which study celestial sources such as the Crab Nebula and Cygnus X-1. He served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences (2020–2024) and Head of the Physics Department (2012–2019).

Education: PhD in Physics from the University of Birmingham (1996), with earlier work on the OPAL experiment at CERN. Research highlights include balloon-borne X-ray polarimetry missions and contributions to the PAMELA cosmic ray experiment.

Research interests span instrumentation development, cosmic ray physics, and high-energy astrophysics. Key projects include XL-Calibur (2024), which achieved %-level polarization detection, and the X-Calibur mission (2018) studying neutron star GX 301-2. Recent work emphasizes improved signal-to-background ratios in hard X-ray observations.

Scientific achievements include election to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2020) and leadership in international collaborations like the Oskar Klein Centre and KTH Space Centre. His publications span X-ray polarimetry, cosmic ray modulation, and mission design, emphasizing multidisciplinary approaches in space science.