Kepler de Souza Oliveira Filho (born 16 February 1956), also known as S. O. Kepler, is a Brazilian astronomer primarily known for his work on white dwarfs, variable stars, and magnetars. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he is currently a professor at Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS).[1]
Born in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, Kepler obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin in 1984. In January 2006, Oliveira and researchers at the University of Texas identified a pulsating white dwarf star, G117-B15A, as the most stable known optical clock, more stable than an atomic clock. The team's findings were published in The Astrophysical Journal.[2]
He was president of the Sociedade Brasileira de Astronomia from 2002 to 2004, and is its current vice-president (2014-2016).[3] He served on the SOAR and Gemini Board for the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which is responsible for managing the Gemini Observatory.[4] Together with Antonio Nemmer Kanaan Neto and other researchers, he is the co-discoverer of BPM37093, the "Diamond Star", a crystallized carbon-oxygen core pulsating white dwarf. With Detlev Koester and Gustavo Ourique, he discovered SDSSJ1240+6710, an oxygen white dwarf, "Dox".[5]
Together with Maria de Fátima Oliveira Saraiva, he is the author of the book and site Astronomia e Astrofísica.[6]
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