Wendy Freedman
Wendy Freedman | |
---|---|
Born | Toronto, Canada | July 17, 1957
Alma mater | University of Toronto (B.Sc. & Ph.D.) |
Scientific career | |
Thesis | The Young Stellar Content of Nearby Resolved Galaxies [1] (1984) |
Doctoral advisor | Philipp Paul Kronberg |
Wendy Laurel Freedman
Early life and career
Freedman grew up in Toronto,[3] the daughter of a medical doctor and a concert pianist.[4] Her early interest in science was kindled by a formative high-school physics class. This led her to the University of Toronto, where she was first a biophysics student, then an astronomy major, receiving her B.Sc. in 1979.[5] She remained at Toronto for her graduate work, receiving a Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics in 1984.[6] Joining the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, as a post-doctoral fellow in 1984, she became a faculty member of the scientific staff three years later as the first woman to join Carnegie's permanent staff. In 2003 she was named to the Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair and Director of Carnegie Observatories.[7] Freedman's early work was principally on the Cepheid distance scale and the stellar populations of nearby galaxies.
Hubble constant
Freedman was co-leader of an international team of 30 astronomers to carry out the
She continues to refine her measurements of the Hubble constant using not just Cepheid variables but also the method of the tip of the red-giant branch.[9]
Giant Magellan Telescope
Freedman initiated the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) Project and served as chair of the board of directors from its inception in 2003 until 2015. GMT is an international consortium of leading universities and science institutions to build a 25-meter optical telescope at the Carnegie Institution for Science's Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean Andes. With a primary mirror 80 feet (24 meters) in diameter, the GMT is poised to be the world's largest ground-based telescope when it is completed. The telescope, which has entered its construction phase and is expected to become fully operational by 2034, will be able to produce images 10 times sharper than those of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Recognition
Freedman has been elected a member of the US National Academy of Sciences,[10] the American Philosophical Society,[11] the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society[2] and a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society. She was elected Fellow of the Royal Society in 2023.[12]
She has received several awards for her contributions to observational cosmology, including a Centennial Lectureship of the American Physical Society (1999), the John P. McGovern Award in Science (2000),
She was elected a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020 [18]
Asteroid
Personal life
Freedman is married to longtime collaborator Barry F. Madore. They have two children. [4][21]
See also
References
- ^ "The Young Stellar Content of Nearby Resolved Galaxies". University of Toronto. Retrieved October 8, 2023.
- ^ a b Koppes, Steve (7 August 2014). "Wendy Freedman, world-leading astronomer, joins UChicago faculty". UChicago News. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- ^ Maureen Searcy, Cosmic cuisine, The University of Chicago Magazine, 110,4 (December 21, 2016).
- ^ a b Amy Ellis Nutt, "Will the universe disappear, or does a mysterious force have other plans for it?" The Star-Ledger, Newark, NJ (December 5, 2002)
- ^ a b National Academy of Sciences, "InterViews: Wendy L. Freedman"
- ^ Carnegie Institution, "The Carnegie Observatories: Director"
- ^ a b Elizabeth H. Oakes, Encyclopedia of World Scientists, "Wendy Freedman"
- S2CID 119097691
- S2CID 235683396.
- ^ "Wendy L. Freedman". www.nasonline.org.
- ^ "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 2021-05-14.
- ^ "Wendy Freedman". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 2023-05-24.
- ^ Sigma Xi, "American Scientist On-Line: Wendy Freedman"
- ^ Thompson, David J. (9 March 2016). "Measurement of Cosmological Parameters - Wendy Freedman". Goddard Scientific Colloquium. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- ^ "Wendy L. Freedman | The Gruber Foundation". gruber.yale.edu. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
- ^ "Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics | American Astronomical Society". aas.org. Retrieved 2016-01-28.
- ^ Koppes, Steve (20 January 2016). "Wendy Freedman to receive Heineman Prize for Astrophysics". UChicago News. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- ^ "AAS Fellows". AAS. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
- ^ "107638 Wendyfreedman (2001 EU13)". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ^ "MPC/MPO/MPS Archive". Minor Planet Center. Retrieved 8 August 2019.
- ^ Corbis Images, Galactic Astronomers"
Further reading
- Shearer, Benjamin F; Shearer, Barbara Smith (1997). Notable women in the physical sciences : a biographical dictionary. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press. OCLC 433367323.
- Armstrong, Mabel (2008). Women astronomers : reaching for the stars. Marcola, Ore.: Stone Pine Press. OCLC 145378830.
External links
- The University of Chicago Academic Profile
- Oral history interview transcript with Wendy Freedman on 21 December 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives
- Is There a Crisis in Cosmology? lecture given to Philosophical Society of Washington on 2020 Nov 6
Media related to Wendy Freedman at Wikimedia Commons