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Maria Lugaro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maria Lugaro
Lugaro lectures at the University of Padua in 2015
NationalityItalian
Alma materUniversity of Turin
Monash University
Scientific career
InstitutionsMonash University
Utrecht University
University of Notre Dame
University of Cambridge
ThesisNucleosynthesis in AGB stars (2001)

Maria Lugaro is an Italian astrophysicist who is a researcher at the Konkoly Observatory of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Her research considers radioactive nuclear in the solar system and asymptotic giant branch stars.

Early life and education

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Lugaro was born in Turin.[1] At high school, she specialised in classics, including Greek and Latin.[2] She was an undergraduate student in theoretical physics at the University of Turin. During her undergraduate studies, she worked on slow neutron captures. She was supported by the Australian Government to complete her doctorate at Monash University. Her research considered nucleosynthesis in asymptotic giant branch stars.[3]

Research and career

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Lugaro worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Notre Dame and University of Cambridge.[citation needed] She moved to Utrecht University as a Dutch Research Council VENI Fellow.[citation needed] In 2008, she returned to Australia, where she was made an Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Senior Lecturer at Monash University. She used radioactive dating to understand the age of meteorites.[4] She moved to Konkoly Observatory at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 2014.[2]

In 2017, Lugaro was awarded a European Research Council Consolidator Grants for RADIOSTAR, a program that looks to understand the radioactive nuclei produced in stellar nuclear reactions.[5] Lugaro believes that it will be possible to uncover the history of the solar system by examining the origin of these radioactive nuclei.[5][6] She has studied neutron stars, and showed that their collisions can result in supernova that collapse whilst spinning, generating strong magnetic fields and super heavy elements.[7][8][9]

Selected publications

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Personal life

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Lugaro has four sons, including a set of twins.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b "Maria Lugaro". www.sheisanastronomer.org. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  2. ^ a b c "Maria Lugaro | Curriculum Vitae". konkoly.hu. Archived from the original on 2022-11-04. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  3. ^ Maria Lugaro (2001), Nucleosynthesis in AGB stars, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics, retrieved 6 November 2022
  4. ^ "Astronomers Trace Solar System's History to Its Cosmic Womb". NBC News. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  5. ^ a b "RADIOSTAR". konkoly.hu. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  6. ^ Emily (2021-12-08). "Radioactive isotopes from stars". Open Access Government. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  7. ^ "Elements of surprise: neutron stars contribute little, but something's making gold, research finds". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2022-11-04.
  8. ^ Roriz, M P; Lugaro, M; Pereira, C B; Sneden, C; Junqueira, S; Karakas, A I; Drake, N A (2021-08-28). "Heavy elements in barium stars". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 507 (2): 1956–1971. arXiv:2108.08132. doi:10.1093/mnras/stab2014. ISSN 0035-8711.
  9. ^ Beams, Michigan State University Facility for Rare Isotope (2021-03-01). "Radioactivity in Meteorites Sheds Light on Origin of Heaviest Elements in Our Solar System". SciTechDaily. Retrieved 2022-11-04.