Bryan Gaensler is the Director of the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, a Professor in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and a Canada Research Chair in Radio Astronomy. He received his PhD from the University of Sydney in 1999, and subsequently held positions at MIT, the Smithsonian, Harvard, and the University of Sydney, before joining the University of Toronto in 2015. He has served as the Canadian Science Director for the Square Kilometre Array and as the co-chair of the Canadian Astronomy Long Range Plan 2020-2030, and is the co-chair of the Toronto Initiative for Diversity and Excellence (TIDE). Gaensler has published more than 400 research papers on cosmic magnetism, interstellar gas and cosmic explosions, while his best-selling popular astronomy book "Extreme Cosmos" has been translated into five languages. Gaensler is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science and a former Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, and gave the 2001 Australia Day Address to the nation. His research has been recognised by the American Astronomical Society (Pierce Prize), Australian Academy of Science (Pawsey Medal), and Canadian Astronomical Society (Martin Award), and has twice (2005, 2020) been named as one of Science magazine’s “Breakthroughs of the Year”.