Ewine van Dishoeck facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ewine van Dishoeck
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Ewine van Dishoeck (2014)
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| Born | 13 June 1955 |
| Spouse(s) | Tim de Zeeuw |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrochemistry, Astronomy, Chemistry |
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Ewine Fleur van Dishoeck, born on June 13, 1955, in Leiden, Netherlands, is a super smart Dutch scientist. She is a professor at Leiden Observatory, where she studies how molecules behave in space. She even led the International Astronomical Union, a big group of astronomers worldwide, from 2018 to 2021. Ewine is a pioneer in astrochemistry, which is like being a detective for chemicals in space. Her research helps us understand what cosmic objects are made of by looking at their unique chemical "fingerprints."
Contents
Early Life and Science Inspiration
Ewine Fleur van Dishoeck was born in Leiden, Netherlands, on June 13, 1955. Her dad was a professor who studied ears, noses, and throats. He inspired her love for science when she was just 12 years old.
Around that time, her father went to San Diego, California, for six months. Ewine took her very first science class there. She remembers her science teacher, a woman who was African-American in the 1960s. This teacher had to overcome many challenges to reach her position. Ewine's childhood experiences made her want to study science. She especially wanted to do great things in the world of chemistry. When she returned to the Netherlands, she decided to study chemistry at the University of Leiden.
Education and Amazing Career
Ewine van Dishoeck started studying chemistry at the University of Leiden. While there, she also found physics very interesting. Her focus soon shifted to chemical physics, especially quantum chemistry. This was a big part of her senior research project.
Then, something sad happened: the only full professor at Leiden who specialized in quantum chemistry passed away. In Holland, PhD students need a full professor to guide their research. If Ewine wanted to stay at Leiden for her PhD, she had to find a new area of study.
At that time, Ewine's boyfriend (who later became her husband), Tim de Zeeuw, was studying astronomy. He had just finished a course about molecules found in space. From Tim, she learned about Alex Dalgarno at Harvard University, an expert on the stuff between stars. In 1980, Ewine went to study with Dalgarno. She changed her main subject to astrochemistry. She earned her PhD by studying how molecules in gas clouds between stars get excited and break apart.
After her PhD, she went back to Cambridge, Massachusetts. She got a special position at Harvard's Society of Fellows. There, she continued her amazing research on the material found in space. Since 2007, she has been the scientific director of the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA).
What Ewine Studies
Ewine van Dishoeck studies molecules found between stars. She looks at how chemicals change during star formation and planet formation. She uses special telescopes that see submillimeter and mid-infrared astronomy light. She also studies how basic molecular processes work. Her research helps us understand how light and energy move through space.
In 2021, she received a special grant to study the chemistry and physics in the disks around other stars. These disks are where planets are born! She is the most mentioned molecular astrophysicist in the world. This means many other scientists use her work in their own research.
Her Big Impact on Science
Ewine van Dishoeck's work in astrochemistry was super important. It helped answer how gas and dust between stars can turn into living things. Life needs carbon, and space has lots of it, often as carbon monoxide. But ultraviolet (UV) light from stars can break up carbon monoxide.
When Ewine was doing her PhD, no one knew how some carbon monoxide molecules could survive in space. In her lab, van Dishoeck created models of interstellar clouds. She compared her tests to what astronomers actually observed in space. She found that carbon monoxide is not broken up by all UV light. It's only affected by specific wavelengths of light that it can absorb.
Her research, done with John Black, showed that dust and other molecules can block UV light. This protects the carbon monoxide. Her discoveries explained why some carbon monoxide molecules survived long enough to help form living organisms.
Awards and Honors
Ewine van Dishoeck has received many important awards for her work.
- In 1984, she was a Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows.
- She won the Gold Medal of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society in 1994.
- She received the Spinoza Prize in the Netherlands in 2000.
- The Royal Society of Chemistry in the UK gave her the Bourke Award in 2001.
- Since 2001, she has been a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the United States National Academy of Sciences.
- In 2013, she joined the Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.
- She received the Gothenburg Lise Meitner Award in Sweden in 2014.
- The Albert Einstein World Award of Science from Mexico was given to her in 2015.
- In 2018, she won the James Craig Watson Medal (US) and the Kavli Prize for astrophysics (Norway).
- Also in 2018, she became an Honorary Member of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society.
- In 2020, she was elected to the American Philosophical Society and received the Prix Jules Janssen.
- In 2021, Pope Francis appointed her to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. She also received the Nick Kylafis Lectureship.
- In 2022, van Dishoeck was awarded the Fritz Zwicky Prize for Astrophysics and Cosmology and the Niels Bohr International Gold Medal.
Personal Life
Ewine van Dishoeck is married to Tim de Zeeuw. He is also a professor of astronomy at Leiden University. He was the Director General of the European Southern Observatory from 2007 to 2017.
See also
In Spanish: Ewine van Dishoeck para niños
