Jump to content

Andrea M. Ghez

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Trojancowboy (talk | contribs) at 02:44, 7 February 2012 (restored image which had been improperly deleted). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Andrea Ghez
File:Ghez9.jpg
Born (1965-06-16) 16 June 1965 (age 59)
New York City, New York
NationalityUSA
Alma materMIT & Caltech
Known forThe use of adaptive optics in studies of the galactic center.[1]
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsUCLA

Andrea Mia Ghez (born June 16, 1965) is an American astronomer and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA.[2] She received a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and her Ph.D. at the California Institute of Technology in 1992.[3] In 2004, Discover magazine listed Ghez as one of the top 20 scientists in the United States who have shown a high degree of understanding in their respective fields.[2]

Her current research involves using high spatial resolution imaging techniques, such as the adaptive optics system at the Keck telescopes,[4] to study star-forming regions and the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy known as Sagittarius A*.[5] She uses the kinematics of stars near the center of the galaxy as a probe to investigate this region.[6] The high resolution of the Keck telescopes[7] gave a significant improvement over the first major study of galactic center kinematics by Reinhard Genzel's group.[8]

In 2004, Ghez was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[9] She's appeared in a long list of notable media presentations. The documentaries have been produced by organizations such as BBC, Discovery Channel, and The History Channel; in 2006 there was a presentation on Nova.[10]

Activities and family

Growing up in Chicago, Ghez first wanted to be a ballerina. The moon landings inspired her to be the first female astronaut and her mother supported her goal. Her only female role model was her high school chemistry teacher.[11] She started out in college by majoring in mathematics but changed to physics.[12]

Ghez is married to Tom LaTourrette who is a geologist and research scientist at the RAND corporation. They have two young sons, Evan born in 2001 and Miles born in 2005.[13] Ghez is a passionate swimmer in the Masters Swim Club which she uses to take a break from science.[14]

Black holes at the galactic center

This graphic shows the partial orbits of many stars orbiting the black hole at the Galactic Center. Since 1995, object SO-2 has made almost a complete elliptical orbit. The graphic was made from snapshots of the position of the various stars over the last decade. Several decades more will be required to complete the orbits of some of these stars.

Awards

Selected publications

  • The Multiplicity of T Tauri Stars in the Taurus-Auriga & Ophiuchus-Scorpius Star Forming Regions: A 2.2 micron Imaging Survey, 1993, AJ, 106, 2005
  • High Spatial Resolution Imaging of Pre-Main Sequence Binary Stars: Resolving the Relationship Between Disks and Close Companions, 1997, ApJ, 490, 353
  • High Proper Motions in the Vicinity of Sgr A*: Unambiguous Evidence for a Massive Central Black Hole, 1998, ApJ, 509 678
  • The Accelerations of Stars Orbiting the Milky Way's Central Black Hole, 2000, Nature, 407, 349
  • The First Measurement of Spectral Lines in a Short-Period Star Bound to the Galaxy's Central Black Hole: A Paradox of Youth, 2003, ApJLetters, 586, 126

References

  1. ^ "High-res images of galactic center". W. M. Keck Observatory. Retrieved 2009-04-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b "20 Young Scientists to Watch". Discover Magazine. Retrieved 2008-03-06. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ "Changing Faces of Astronomy". Science. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ "Supermassive Black Holes". BBC. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ "Milky Way Monster Stars in Cosmic Reality Show". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "CELT Science Working Group Meeting". celt.ucolick.org. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ UCLA Galactic Center Group
  8. ^ Eckart, A.; Genzel, R. "Observations of stellar proper motions near the Galactic Centre". doi:10.1038/383415a0.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. ^ "Andrea Ghez Elected to National Academy of Sciences". NASA. Retrieved 2004-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  10. ^ "Andrea M. Ghez" (PDF). UCLA. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Jennifer Lauren Lee. "Science Hero:Andrea Mia Ghez". The My Hero Project. Retrieved 2009-09-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Linda Copman. "Zeroing in on Black Holes". W. M. Keck Observatory. Retrieved 2009-09-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Stuart Wolpert (September 23, 2008). "UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Retrieved 2011-04-16. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  14. ^ Poster Project Biographies
  15. ^ a b "Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy". American Astronomical Society. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Packard Fellows - Sorted by Award Year: 1996". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 2007-11-03. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ "Honors and Awards received by IGPP/UCLA Faculty and Research Staff". UCLA. Archived from the original on 2008-02-04. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Astronomer Andrea Ghez awarded Gold Shield prize". University of California, Santa Cruz. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
  19. ^ "UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named a 2008 MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Retrieved 2008-09-23. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "The Crafoord Prize in Mathematics 2012 and The Crafoord Prize in Astronomy 2012". Crafoord Prize. Retrieved 2012-01-19. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)

External links

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Andrea_M._Ghez&oldid=475508440"