Karlie Noon facts for kids

Karlie Alinta Noon is an amazing Indigenous Australian woman. She was the first Indigenous woman to earn two university degrees at once in maths and physics! Karlie is an astronomer, which means she studies stars and space. She has won many awards and was even named one of the BBC's "100 Women" in 2017. Today, she studies astronomy and astrophysics (which is like advanced astronomy) at the Australian National University.

Karlie's Early Life

Karlie grew up in a place called Coledale, near Tamworth, Australia. She has shared that her family didn't have a lot of money. This made school a bit tough for her sometimes.

She didn't always go to high school very often. But she was really good at science! This was thanks to extra help from a tutor and a mentor. Her family, especially her grandmother, always cheered her on. Their support gave her the confidence to follow her dream of working in science.

Education and Career Journey

Karlie found that regular high school classes weren't always the best fit for her. She learned a lot of her early maths from a special mentor at home. Later, she earned her double degree from the University of Newcastle.

After that, she moved to Canberra to study at the Australian National University (ANU). Karlie also worked for CSIRO, which is a big science organization. She helped with their program for Indigenous students in STEM.

Her research looks at the amazing knowledge about stars that Indigenous cultures have. She also studies things like moon haloes, comparing old European and Indigenous stories.

Awards and Special Recognition

Karlie Noon has received many important awards and honours for her work:

• 2023 — Her book, Astronomy: Sky Country, won the People's Choice Award at the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards. It was also a finalist for the Indigenous Writing award.
• 2022 — Astronomy: Sky Country was a finalist for the nonfiction Age Book of the Year.
• 2019 — She was a finalist for the 3M ‘Emerging Leader in Science’ at the Eureka Prizes.
• 2019 — Karlie was recognized on the honour roll for Australian of the Year.
• 2018 — She helped write stories for the "Made Beautiful by Nature" series.
• 2017 — The BBC chose her as one of their 100 Women.
• 2017 — She was a finalist for the STEM Professional Early Career Award.
• 2017 — Karlie was also a finalist for the Women of the Future Award.

Sharing Science with Everyone

Karlie loves to talk about science and share her passion. She wants to show everyone, especially young people from different backgrounds, that they can have a career in STEM. She believes that everyone deserves equal chances.

She has worked with CSIRO to find talented young Indigenous people for STEM awards. Karlie wants to inspire all children, including Indigenous kids and those from families with less money, to get excited about science. She also strongly encourages girls to pursue science. Karlie says, "Girls can absolutely do it and they can smash it just as well as any other person can."

In August 2020, the Sydney Observatory made Karlie their first-ever astronomy ambassador.

• Karlie's work on Indigenous astronomy was shown on SBS, a TV channel.
• Her work on Indigenous science and fairness was featured on Australia’s Science Channel.
• Her story and work in astronomy were shared in the Indigenous Science Network Bulletin.
• In 2016, the ABC (another TV channel) talked about her work in Indigenous physics, saying she was "reaching for the stars."