Annette Ferguson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Annette Mairi Nelson Ferguson
FRSE
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| Born | |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Alma mater | University of Toronto Johns Hopkins University |
| Awards | Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy (2003) Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (2016) Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2017) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics Astrophysics |
| Institutions | University of Edinburgh Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik Kapteyn Astronomical Institute Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge |
Annette Mairi Nelson Ferguson is a Scottish astrophysicist. She studies how galaxies change and grow over time. She is a professor at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Contents
What Does an Astrophysicist Do?
Annette Ferguson is an observational astrophysicist. This means she uses telescopes to look at objects in space. Her main goal is to understand how galaxies like our own Milky Way formed and changed over billions of years.
Studying Nearby Galaxies
Professor Ferguson often studies stars and interstellar gas in galaxies close to us. This helps her learn about how galaxies develop. A lot of her recent work has focused on the Andromeda Galaxy. This is a huge spiral galaxy that is our closest galactic neighbor.
Tools for Space Research
To do her research, Annette uses powerful telescopes on Earth. These are located in places like the Canary Islands, Chile, and Hawaii. She also uses amazing tools on the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits Earth.
She is also helping to plan for future space missions. These include the European Space Agency's Euclid mission. She is also involved with the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This new observatory is being built in Chile.
Her Journey to Becoming a Scientist
Annette Ferguson grew up in Scotland. She went to the University of Toronto in Canada. There, she earned a degree in Physics and Astronomy. Later, she got her PhD in Astrophysics from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, USA.
After her PhD, she worked as a researcher in different countries. She worked in Cambridge, England, and in Groningen, Netherlands. She also worked in Garching, Germany.
In 2005, Annette came back to Scotland. She started teaching at the University of Edinburgh. She became a professor there in 2013.
Awards and Recognition
Annette Ferguson has received several important awards for her work:
- In 2003, she won the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy. This award is given to women for their outstanding research in astronomy.
- In 2016, she became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. This is a special honor from Scotland's national academy for science.
- In 2017, she received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award. This award came from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
See Also
In Spanish: Annette Ferguson para niños
