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] In 2020, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, sharing one half of the prize with Reinhard Genzel, "for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy."[3] The other half was awarded to Roger Penrose. She is the fourth woman to have won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Early life
The Apollo program's Moon landings inspired Ghez 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.[4] She started out in college by majoring in mathematics but changed to physics.[5] 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.[6]
Career
Her current research involves using high spatial resolution imaging techniques, such as the adaptive optics system at the Keck telescopes,[7] to study star-forming regions and the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way known as Sagittarius A*.[8] She uses the kinematics of stars near the center of the Milky Way as a probe to investigate this region.[9] The high resolution of the Keck telescopes[10] gave a significant improvement over the first major study of galactic center kinematics by Reinhard Genzel's group.[11]
In 2004, Ghez was elected to the National Academy of Sciences.[12] She has appeared in a long list of notable media presentations. The documentaries have been produced by organizations such as the BBC, Discovery Channel, and The History Channel, and in 2006 there was a presentation on the PBS television series Nova.[13] She was identified as a Science Hero by The My Hero Project.[4] In 2019, Ghez was elected as a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS). [14]
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. One of the stars, SO-2, has nearly made a complete elliptical orbit since detailed observations began in 1995. 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.[15] 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.[16] 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.[citation needed]
In 2020, she received the Nobel Prize in Physics.[3]
Personal life
Ghez is married to Tom LaTourrette who is a geologist and research scientist at the RAND corporation. They have two sons.[17] Ghez is a passionate swimmer in the Masters Swim Club which she uses to take a break from science.[18]
Awards
Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (1994)[19]
Packard Fellowship award (1996)[20]
Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society (1998)[19]
Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award of the American Physical Society (1999)[21]
Sackler Prize (2004)[22]
Gold Shield Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence (2004)[23]
Marc Aaronson Memorial Lectureship (2007)
MacArthur Fellowship (2008)[24]
Crafoord Prize in Astronomy (2012)[25]
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (2012)[26]
Royal Society Bakerian Medal (2015)[27]
Honorary Doctorate of Science, University of Oxford (2019)[28]
Elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020 [29]
Nobel Prize in Physics (2020)[3]
Selected publications
Ghez, Andrea M.; Neugebauer, Gerry; Matthews, K. (1993). "The Multiplicity of T Tauri Stars in the Taurus-Auriga & Ophiuchus-Scorpius Star Forming Regions: A 2.2 micron Imaging Survey" (PDF). Astronomical Journal. 106: 2005–2023. Bibcode:1993AJ....106.2005G. doi:10.1086/116782.
Ghez, Andrea M.; White, Russel J.; Simon, M. (1997). "High Spatial Resolution Imaging of Pre-Main Sequence Binary Stars: Resolving the Relationship Between Disks and Close Companions". Astrophysical Journal. 490 (1): 353–367. Bibcode:1997ApJ...490..353G. doi:10.1086/304856.
Ghez, Andrea M.; Klein, B. L.; Morris, M.; Becklin, E.E. (1998). "High Proper Motions in the Vicinity of Sgr A*: Evidence for a Massive Central Black Hole". Astrophysical Journal. 509 (2): 678–686. arXiv:astro-ph/9807210. Bibcode:1998ApJ...509..678G. doi:10.1086/306528. S2CID 18243528.
Ghez, A. M.; Morris, M.; Becklin, E. E.; Tanner, A.; Kremenek, T. (2000). "The Accelerations of Stars Orbiting the Milky Way's Central Black Hole". Nature. 407 (6802): 349–351. arXiv:astro-ph/0009339. Bibcode:2000Natur.407..349G. doi:10.1038/35030032. PMID 11014184. S2CID 312384.
Ghez, A. M.; Duchêne, G.; Matthews, K.; Hornstein, S. D.; Tanner, A.; Larkin, J.; Morris, M.; Becklin, E. E.; S. Salim (January 1, 2003). "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. 586 (2): L127. arXiv:astro-ph/0302299. Bibcode:2003ApJ...586L.127G. doi:10.1086/374804. S2CID 11388341.
Ghez, A. M.; Salim, S.; Weinberg, N. N.; Lu, J. R.; Do, T.; Dunn, J. K.; Matthews, K.; Morris, M. R.; Yelda, S. (January 1, 2008). "Measuring Distance and Properties of the Milky Way's Central Supermassive Black Hole with Stellar Orbits". Astrophysical Journal. 689 (2): 1044–1062. arXiv:0808.2870. Bibcode:2008ApJ...689.1044G. doi:10.1086/592738. S2CID 18335611.
See also
List of Nobel laureates in Physics
References
"High-res images of galactic center". W. M. Keck Observatory. Archived from the original on September 29, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2009.
"20 Young Scientists to Watch". Discover Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2008.
"Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2020". Nobel Foundation. Retrieved October 6, 2020.
Jennifer Lauren Lee. "Science Hero:Andrea Mia Ghez". The My Hero Project. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
Linda Copman. "Zeroing in on Black Holes". W. M. Keck Observatory. Archived from the original on July 26, 2011. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
"Changing Faces of Astronomy". Science. Archived from the original on March 16, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
"Supermassive Black Holes". BBC. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
"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.
"CELT Science Working Group Meeting". celt.ucolick.org. Archived from the original on August 20, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
@sciencemusicart.com, Liz Jensen. "UCLA Galactic Center Group". www.astro.ucla.edu.
Eckart, A.; Genzel, R. (1996). "Observations of stellar proper motions near the Galactic Centre". Nature. 383 (6599): 415–417. Bibcode:1996Natur.383..415E. doi:10.1038/383415a0. S2CID 4285760.
"Andrea Ghez Elected to National Academy of Sciences". NASA. Archived from the original on November 1, 2004. Retrieved March 20, 2004.
"Andrea M. Ghez" (PDF). UCLA. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
"APS Fellow Archive". Retrieved September 24, 2019.
Wolpert, Stuart. "UCLA astronomers discover star racing around black hole at center of our galaxy". UCLA Newsroom. Archived from the original on March 15, 2014. Retrieved October 6, 2012.
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. S2CID 18335611.
Stuart Wolpert (September 23, 2008). "UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Retrieved April 16, 2011.
"Poster Project, Biographies". www.math.sunysb.edu.
"Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy". American Astronomical Society. Archived from the original on February 28, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
"Packard Fellows – Sorted by Award Year: 1996". University of Virginia. Archived from the original on November 3, 2007. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
"Maria Goeppert Mayer Award". www.aps.org.
"Honors and Awards received by IGPP/UCLA Faculty and Research Staff". UCLA. Archived from the original on February 4, 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-20.
"Astronomer Andrea Ghez awarded Gold Shield prize". University of California, Santa Cruz. Archived from the original on July 9, 2008. Retrieved March 20, 2008.
"UCLA astronomer Andrea Ghez named a 2008 MacArthur Fellow". UCLA. Archived from the original on September 24, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
"The Crafoord Prize in Mathematics 2012 and The Crafoord Prize in Astronomy 2012". Crafoord Prize. Retrieved January 19, 2012.
"Newsroom". Archived from the original on October 9, 2018. Retrieved October 8, 2018.
"Andrea Ghez to receive Royal Society's Bakerian Medal".
"Honorary degree recipients for 2019 announced". The University of Oxford. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
"AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
External links
Ghez UCLA home page
Andrea Ghez, Astronomy / UCLA Spotlight
UCLA Faculty Research Lecture: Unveiling a Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way
Finkbeiner, Ann (March 20, 2013), "As an early adopter of astronomical technology, Andrea Ghez is revealing secrets about the giant black hole at the Galaxy's centre", Nature, 495 (7441): 296–8, Bibcode:2013Natur.495..296F, doi:10.1038/495296a, PMID 23518544
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