Andrea M. Ghez

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Andrea M. Ghez
Born (1965-06-16) June 16, 1965 (age 58)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S. Physics, 1987)
California Institute of Technology (Ph.D., 1992)
Known forThe use of adaptive optics in studies of the galactic center.[1]
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsUniversity of California, Los Angeles

Andrea Mia Ghez (born June 16, 1965) is an American astronomer and professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at UCLA.[2] 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]

Early life

Growing up in Chicago, Ghez first wanted to be a ballerina. The moon landings inspired her to want to become the first female astronaut and her mother supported her goal. Her most influential female role model was her high school chemistry teacher.[3] She started out in college by majoring in mathematics but changed to physics.[4] She received a BS in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and her Ph.D. under the direction of Gerry Neugebauer at the California Institute of Technology in 1992.[5]

Career

Her current research involves using high spatial resolution imaging techniques, such as the adaptive optics system at the Keck telescopes,[6] to study star-forming regions and the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way known as Sagittarius A*.[7] She uses the kinematics of stars near the center of the Milky Way as a probe to investigate this region.[8] The high resolution of the Keck telescopes[9] gave a significant improvement over the first major study of galactic center kinematics by Reinhard Genzel's group.[10]

In 2004, Ghez was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[11] She has 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.[12] She was identified as a Science Hero by The My Hero Project.[3]

Black Hole at the Galactic Center (Sgr A*)

Main article: Sagittarius A*

By imaging the Galactic Center at infrared wavelengths, Ghez and her colleagues have been able to peer through heavy dust that blocks visible light, and to produce images of the center of the Milky Way. Thanks to the 10 m aperture of the W.M. Keck Telescope and the use of adaptive optics to correct for the turbulence of the atmosphere, these images of the Galactic Center are at very high spatial resolution and have made it possible to follow the orbits of stars around the black hole, which is also known as Sagittarius A* or Sgr A*. The partial orbits of many stars orbiting the black hole at the Galactic Center have been observed. Since 1995, object SO-2 has made almost a complete elliptical orbit. Several decades more will be required to completely document the orbits of some of these stars; these measurements may provide a test of the theory of general relativity. In October 2012, a second star was identified by her team at UCLA, S0-102, orbiting the Galactic Center.[13] Using Kepler's law, Ghez's team has used the orbital motion to show that the mass of Sgr A* is 4.1±0.6 million solar masses.[14] Because Sgr A* is one hundred times closer than the next nearest known supermassive black hole M31* (located at the center of M31) it is now one of the best demonstrated cases for a supermassive black hole.

Personal life

Ghez is married to Tom LaTourrette who is a geologist and research scientist at the RAND corporation. They have two sons, Evan born in 2001 and Miles born in 2005.[15] Ghez is a passionate swimmer in the Masters Swim Club which she uses to take a break from science.[16]

Awards

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ "High-res images of galactic center". W. M. Keck Observatory. Retrieved April 20, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b "20 Young Scientists to Watch". Discover Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  3. ^ a b Jennifer Lauren Lee. "Science Hero:Andrea Mia Ghez". The My Hero Project. Retrieved September 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  4. ^ Linda Copman. "Zeroing in on Black Holes". W. M. Keck Observatory. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2009. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ "Changing Faces of Astronomy". Science. Archived from the original on March 16, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ "Supermassive Black Holes". BBC. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ "Milky Way Monster Stars in Cosmic Reality Show". Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Archived from the original on March 17, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ "CELT Science Working Group Meeting". celt.ucolick.org. Archived from the original on August 20, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ @sciencemusicart.com, Liz Jensen. "UCLA Galactic Center Group". www.astro.ucla.edu.
  10. ^ Eckart, A.; Genzel, R. (1996). "Observations of stellar proper motions near the Galactic Centre". Nature. 383 (6599). Bibcode:1996Natur.383..415E. doi:10.1038/383415a0.
  11. ^ "Andrea Ghez Elected to National Academy of Sciences". NASA. Archived from the original on November 1, 2004. Retrieved March 20, 2004. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Andrea M. Ghez" (PDF). UCLA. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  13. ^ Wolpert, Stuart. "UCLA astronomers discover star racing around black hole at center of our galaxy". UCLA Newsroom.
  14. ^ Ghez, A. M.; Salim, S.; Weinberg, N. N.; Lu, J. R.; Do, T.; Dunn, J. K.; Matthews, K.; Morris, M.; Yelda, S.; Becklin, E. E.; Kremenek, T.; Milosavljevic, M.; Naiman, J. (December 20, 2008). "Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way's Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits". The Astrophysical Journal. 689 (2): 1044–1062. arXiv:0808.2870. Bibcode:2008ApJ...689.1044G. doi:10.1086/592738.
  15. ^ Stuart Wolpert (September 23, 2008). "UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Retrieved April 16, 2011. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  16. ^ "Poster Project, Biographies,". www.math.sunysb.edu.
  17. ^ a b "Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  18. ^ "Packard Fellows – Sorted by Award Year: 1996". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ "Maria Goeppert Mayer Award". www.aps.org.
  20. ^ "Honors and Awards received by IGPP/UCLA Faculty and Research Staff". UCLA. Archived from the original on February 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ "Astronomer Andrea Ghez awarded Gold Shield prize". University of California, Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ "UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named a 2008 MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help); Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  23. ^ "The Crafoord Prize in Mathematics 2012 and The Crafoord Prize in Astronomy 2012". Crafoord Prize. Retrieved January 19, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/ucla-professors-andrea-ghez-terence-222440
  25. ^ http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/andrea-ghez-to-receive-royal-societys-bakerian-medal

External links

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