Margaret G. Kivelson facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Margaret Kivelson
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Kivelson in 2007
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Margaret Galland Kivelson
October 21, 1928 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Radcliffe College (A.B.), Radcliffe College (A.M.), Harvard University (Ph.D.) |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Plasma physics |
| Institutions | UCLA (1967-present) University of Michigan (2010-present) |
| Thesis | Bremsstrahlung of High Energy Electrons (1957) |
| Doctoral advisor | Julian Schwinger |
Margaret Galland Kivelson (born October 21, 1928) is an American space physicist and planetary scientist. She is a distinguished professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Since 2010, she has also been a research scientist at the University of Michigan. Her main work involves studying the invisible magnetic shields, called magnetospheres, around Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Her recent studies have also looked closely at Jupiter's large moons, known as the Galilean moons. She led the team for the magnetometer on the Galileo Orbiter spacecraft. This instrument collected data about Jupiter's magnetosphere for eight years. She also worked on the FGM (magnetometer) for the NASA-ESA Cluster mission orbiting Earth. Today, she is still active in space missions. She works on NASA's Themis mission, leads the magnetometer team for NASA's Europa Clipper Mission, and is part of the Cassini and JUICE mission teams. Dr. Kivelson has written over 350 scientific papers. She also helped edit a popular textbook about space physics.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Margaret Kivelson was born in New York City on October 21, 1928. Her father was a doctor, and her mother had a degree in physics. From high school, Margaret knew she wanted to work in science. However, she wasn't sure if she would succeed. Her uncle suggested she become a dietitian. He thought it would be hard for a woman to have a career in physical science. But Margaret didn't listen to this advice. She decided to study physics instead.
In 1946, Kivelson was accepted into Radcliffe College. This was a women's college connected to Harvard University. She earned her first degree from Radcliffe in 1950. She then completed her master's degree in 1952. Finally, she received her Ph.D. in physics from Harvard in 1957.
Career in Science
Kivelson finished her PhD paper, called a thesis, in 1957. It was titled "Bremsstrahlung of High Energy Electrons." This paper helped explain how high-energy electrons scatter.
From 1955 to 1971, Dr. Kivelson worked as a physics consultant at the RAND Corporation. This company is in Santa Monica, California. There, she studied how plasmas (a superheated state of matter) and electron gases interact. She used math methods similar to those in quantum electrodynamics. She even helped correct a known scientific relationship about plasma.
In 1965-1966, Kivelson took a break from RAND. She joined her husband, who was on a special study leave in Boston. She received a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. This allowed her to do scientific research at Harvard and MIT.
Her time in academia at Radcliffe Institute inspired her. In 1967, Kivelson joined UCLA as an assistant research geophysicist. She quickly moved up in the world of geophysics and space physics. By 1980, she became a full professor at UCLA. She even led the earth and space sciences department twice. She also served on important boards for Harvard College and NASA. In 2009, she became a distinguished professor emerita. This means she retired but still holds a special title. In 2010, she also started a research position at the University of Michigan.
Amazing Discoveries
Dr. Kivelson has had a very successful career. She has published many papers and done lots of original work. Some of her biggest achievements include:
- Discovering that Ganymede, one of Jupiter's moons, has its own magnetic field.
- Finding strong evidence that Europa, another of Jupiter's moons, has a hidden ocean under its icy surface.
- Helping to explain how very low frequency waves behave in Earth's magnetosphere.
- Discovering "cavity mode oscillations" in the magnetosphere.
- Developing new ways to describe how waves and particles interact in space.
- Understanding how rotating plasmas move and mix.
Her research has led to her being an author or co-author on over 350 scientific papers. These papers have been referenced by other scientists over 12,000 times!
Overcoming Challenges
Margaret Kivelson has shared her experiences as a woman scientist. She talked about them in an interview with the American Astronomical Society. When she started college, her family joked she was only pursuing a "Mrs." degree. Before World War II, classes at Radcliffe and Harvard were separate for men and women. But when she attended after the war, classes were mixed. She was often the only woman in her science courses.
Her PhD advisor, Julian Schwinger, taught over 70 graduate students. Margaret Kivelson was his only female student. In 1954, she had her first child, Steven Kivelson. He is now a physics professor at Stanford. After becoming a mother, she often faced criticism for continuing her work. In 1955, her husband got a job at UCLA, so she moved to Los Angeles. She started working part-time at the RAND Corporation while finishing her thesis. A few months after getting her PhD in 1957, she had her second child, Valerie Kivelson. Valerie is now a history professor at the University of Michigan.
In 1973, Kivelson won a Guggenheim Fellowship. This allowed her to work at the Imperial College in London. She said, "that fellowship gave me for the first time the sense that I was being taken seriously as a scientist. More than money, it gave me status and increased my self-confidence considerably."
Awards and Honors
Dr. Kivelson has received many important awards and honors for her work:
- Guggenheim Fellowship (1973–74)
- Radcliffe Graduate Society Medal (1983)
- Harvard University's 350th Anniversary Alumni Medal (1986)
- Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1989)
- Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (1992)
- NASA Group Achievement Award (1995, 1996)
- Member of the National Academy of Sciences (1999)
- Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1998)
- Fellow of the American Physical Society (2001)
- Fleming Medal of the American Geophysical Union (2005)
- Alfven Medal of the European Geophysical Union (2005)
- Elected member of the American Philosophical Society (2005)
- Gerard P. Kuiper Prize of the American Astronomical Society (2017)
- Jean Dominique Cassini Medal of the European Geosciences Union (2019)
- Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society (2019)
- Elected Foreign Member of the Royal Society (2020)
- James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society (2021)
See also
