Andrea Ghez

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Andrea Mia Ghez

Andrea Mia Ghez (born June 16, 1965 in New York ) is an American astronomer . In 2020 , she and Reinhard Genzel were awarded one half of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way .

Life

Ghez was born in New York City to Susanne Ghez (née Gayton) and Gilbert Ghez. Ghez grew up in Chicago and attended the University of Chicago Lab School. The Apollo program's moon landings inspired her to become the first female astronaut, with her mother supporting that goal. She started out majoring in math in college but switched to physics. Ghez studied physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( Bachelor 1987) and at the California Institute of Technology ( Master 1989). She also received her doctorate in 1992 from Caltech. Afterwards she was a postdoctoral researcher and Hubble Research in 1992/93Fellow (see Space Telescope Science Institute ) at the Steward Observatory of the University of Arizona . In 1994 she became Assistant Professor, 1997 Associate Professor and 2000 Professor of Astronomy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

By using new techniques ( speckle optics and later adaptive optics ) in infrared astronomy , Ghez was able, for example, to dissolve closely orbiting binary star systems and thus gain new insights into the formation of stars . Using these techniques, Ghez and other scientists at the Keck Observatory in Hawaii studied the movement of the stars in the center of the Milky Way ( Sagittarius A * ) over a period of several years . Here she was able to provide evidence of a supermassive black hole - like scientists at the Very Large Telescope led by Reinhard Genzel . This has a mass of more than 4 million solar masses . The stars observed nearby moved at up to 4% of the speed of light (12,000 km / s). Ghez also discovered the surprisingly young age of some stars near the black hole.

In 1999 she received the Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award from the American Physical Society (APS). In 2020, together with Reinhard Genzel , she received half of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the black hole in the center of the Milky Way. The other half of the award went to Roger Penrose for theoretical work on black holes.

Ghez is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (both since 2004) and the American Philosophical Society (since 2012).

She has been married to geologist Tom LaTourrette since 1993 and has two sons.

Awards

Fonts

  • AM Ghez, BL Klein, M. Morris, EE Becklin, "High Proper-Motion Stars in the Vicinity of Sagittarius A *: Evidence for a Supermassive Black Hole at the Center of our Galaxy", Astrophysical Journal , Vol. 509, No. 2, 1998, pp. 678-686
  • AM Ghez, M. Morris, EE Becklin, T. Kremenek, A. Tanner, "The Acceleration of Stars Orbiting the Milky Way's Central Black Hole," Nature , Vol. 407, 2000, pp. 349-351
  • AM Ghez, G. Duchêne, K. Matthews, SD Hornstein, A. Tanner, J. Larkin, M. Morris, EE Becklin, S. Salim, T. Kremenek, D. Thompson, BT Soifer, G. Neugebauer, I. McLean, "The First Measurement of Spectral Lines in a Short-Period Star Bound to the Galaxy's Central Black Hole: A Paradox of Youth," Astrophysical Journal Letters , Vol. 586, No. 2, 2003, L127
  • AM Ghez, S. Salim, SD Hornstein, A. Tanner, JR Lu, M. Morris, EE Becklin, G. Duchêne, "Stellar Orbits around the Galactic Center Black Hole", Astrophysical Journal , Vol. 620, No. 2, 2005, pp. 744-757
  • AM Ghez, S. Salim, NN Weinberg, JR Lu, T. Do, JK Dunn, K. Matthews, MR Morris, S. Yelda, "Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way's Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits", Astrophysical Journal , Vol. 689, No. 2, 2008, pp. 1044-1062

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ghez et al. a. The First Measurement of Spectral Lines in a Short-Period Star Bound to the Galaxy's Central Black Hole: A Paradox of Youth , Astroph. Journal, Volume 586, 2003, L 127
  2. ^ The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, October 6, 2020, accessed on October 6, 2020 .
  3. ^ Stuart Wolpert: UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named MacArthur Fellow . UCLA. September 23, 2008. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
  4. ↑ Andrea Ghez , prabook.com
personal data
SURNAME Ghez, Andrea
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ghez, Andrea Mia (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American astronomer
DATE OF BIRTH June 16, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH New York , United States