Carolina Ödman-Govender facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Carolina Ödman-Govender
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Ödman-Govender in 2013
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Carolina Ödman
1973/1974 Switzerland
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| Died | (aged 48) Cape Town, South Africa
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Carolina Ödman-Govender (born around 1974 – 15 November 2022) was a smart scientist from Switzerland. She was a professor who taught about space and stars, called Astrophysics, at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She won a special award in 2018 from the International Astronomical Union for helping people learn about space and science.
Early Life and Learning
Carolina Ödman grew up in Switzerland. Her parents were from Sweden. When she was in high school, her physics teacher inspired her to study science. She went to a university in Switzerland called the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and finished her studies in 2000.
Later, she earned her PhD degree at the University of Cambridge in England. She also worked with UNESCO, an organization that helps with education and science. She was very interested in why people love learning about space and the stars.
Research and Career
From 2004 to 2005, Carolina worked as a researcher at a university in Rome, Italy. She studied big questions about the universe, like dark energy and the cosmic microwave background, which is like an echo from the early universe.
In 2005, she joined Leiden University in the Netherlands. There, she helped start a project called "Astronomy for Africa." She also led a program called Universe Awareness (UNAWE). This program helps inspire young children around the world to learn about astronomy. It has reached over 400,000 children in more than 60 countries!
In 2010, she started working on the Square Kilometre Array project, which is building the world's largest radio telescope. A year later, in 2011, she became a director at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences. In 2012, she won an award for her work on Universe Awareness. She also helped create the GalileoMobile project, which brings astronomy to schools.
In 2018, Carolina became a professor at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. She also helped lead a group called IDIA, which works with lots of data about space.
In 2021, she won another award for how she helped share science with everyone. She even worked on building a science vocabulary in different African languages.
Personal Life and Passing
Carolina Ödman was married to Kevin Govender and they lived in South Africa. They had two sons.
Sadly, Carolina became ill in 2018. She passed away in Cape Town, South Africa, on November 15, 2022, when she was 48 years old.
See also
In Spanish: Carolina Ödman-Govender para niños
