Michelle Thaller facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dr
Michelle Thaller
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| Born |
Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.
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| Education | BS 1992, PhD 1998 |
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| Spouse(s) | Andrew Booth (2000–2020) |
Michelle Thaller is an American astronomer, a scientist who studies stars and space. She is also a science communicator, meaning she helps explain science to everyone. Dr. Thaller used to be the Assistant Director for Science Communication at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. She worked at NASA for 27 years before she retired in 2024.
From 1998 to 2009, she was a scientist at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center. She also managed the education program for the Spitzer Space Telescope at the California Institute of Technology. You might have seen her on TV shows about space on The History Channel and Science Channel.
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Early Life and Education
Michelle Thaller grew up in Wisconsin. She finished high school at Waukesha South High School in 1988.
Studying the Stars
She went to Harvard University and studied astrophysics. This is a branch of astronomy that uses physics to understand space. At Harvard, she worked on measuring binary stars very carefully. Binary stars are two stars that orbit each other. She earned her first degree in 1992.
Later, at Georgia State University, Dr. Thaller studied how winds from stars crash into each other in close binary systems. She earned her PhD, which is a very high degree, in 1998.
Sharing Science with Everyone
Dr. Thaller loves to share her knowledge about space. She writes a monthly science column for the Christian Science Monitor online.
TV Shows and Podcasts
She has appeared on many TV shows. These include The Universe on the History Channel. She was also on the Science Channel series How the Universe Works, Strip the Cosmos, and The Planets and Beyond.
In 2016 and 2017, Dr. Thaller wrote and hosted a podcast series called "Orbital Path Podcasts." In 2008, she helped create and appeared in the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope's video podcast series IRrelevant Astronomy.
Personal Life
Michelle Thaller married Andrew Booth, who was also an astronomer, in Scotland on September 8, 2000.
