Alicia M. Soderberg facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Alicia M. Soderberg
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A. M. Soderberg on top of Rundetaarn in 2001.
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| Born | 1977 (age 47–48) Boston
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | PhD, California Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater | California Institute of Technology |
| Awards | Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics |
| Institutions | Harvard University |
| Thesis | The Many Facets of Cosmic Explosions (2007) |
| Doctoral advisor | Shrinivas Kulkarni |
Alicia Margarita Soderberg (born in 1977) is an American astrophysicist. She studies huge cosmic explosions called supernovae. She used to be a professor at Harvard University. She also worked as a researcher at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
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Early Life and Interests
Alicia Soderberg was born in Boston, USA. She grew up in Falmouth, Massachusetts, near the ocean. She went to Falmouth High School. During her summers, she studied how water pollution affected ponds. She did this at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Her Journey in Education
Soderberg went to Bates College. In 2000, she earned a degree in both Math and Physics. While studying, she joined several summer programs. These included programs at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. She also visited the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
Later, she earned a master's degree in Applied Mathematics. This was from the University of Cambridge. She then got her doctorate (PhD) in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology. For her PhD, she studied gamma ray bursts and stripped core-collapse supernovae. These are very powerful explosions in space. She used data from the Palomar Observatory and the Very Large Array for her research.
Discoveries in Space
Alicia Soderberg is known for her exciting discoveries about supernovae.
Catching a Gamma-Ray Burst
On February 18, 2006, Soderberg and her team found a gamma-ray burst called GRB 060218. This burst was about 440 million light years away. It was in a group of stars called Aries. They also saw a supernova linked to it, called SN2006aj. This discovery was very important. It showed a strong connection between gamma-ray bursts and supernovae.
Witnessing a Supernova Live
On January 9, 2008, Soderberg and her team made another amazing discovery. They saw a supernova called SN 2008D as it was happening! They used data from NASA's Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission X-ray space telescope. The supernova came from a star in the spiral galaxy NGC 2770. This galaxy is 88 million light years away.
Her team was already watching NGC 2770 for another supernova. This allowed them to catch SN 2008D right at the start. They quickly told eight other observatories around the world. This way, many telescopes could record the event. It was like getting a front-row seat to a cosmic explosion!
Awards and Recognition
- Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy (2009)
See also
In Spanish: Alicia M. Soderberg para niños
