Naomi McClure-Griffiths facts for kids

Naomi McClure-Griffiths (born July 11, 1975) is an amazing scientist. She is an astrophysicist and radio astronomer from America and Australia. In 2004, she made a big discovery. She found a new spiral arm in our home galaxy, the Milky Way.

She has won many important awards for her work. In 2006, she received the Prime Minister's Malcolm McIntosh Prize. In 2015, she got the Pawsey Medal for her physics research. She also became an Australian Laureate Fellow in 2021. In 2022, she was chosen as a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

Biography

Early Life and Education

Naomi Melissa McClure-Griffiths was born on July 11, 1975. Her birthplace was Atlanta, Georgia, in the United States.

In 1993, she started studying at Oberlin College. She studied both French and physics there. Later, in 1997, she went to the University of Minnesota. There, she focused on astrophysics. This is the study of how stars and galaxies work.

For her PhD, she helped map the hydrogen gas in the Milky Way galaxy. In 2001, she moved to Australia for good. She started working at the Australia Telescope National Facility. This was a special fellowship with CSIRO.

Discoveries and Research

During her fellowship, McClure-Griffiths studied interstellar gases. These are gases found between stars. She also looked at how star explosions create bubbles. These bubbles push gases out of a galaxy.

She discovered two "chimneys" of empty space. These are like tunnels created by moving gases. One of her chimneys is special. It is the only one known to go through both the top and bottom of the galaxy's flat part.

Then, in 2004, she made her most famous discovery. She found a new spiral arm in the Milky Way. This arm had been seen before on maps. But no one had identified or named it. McClure-Griffiths used a computer model to prove it was real. Her team then confirmed its existence.

In 2006, she won the Malcolm McIntosh Prize. This is a top award for physical scientists in Australia. That same year, she started a big project. It was called the Galactic All Sky Survey.

In 2007, she received the Powerhouse Wizard Award. This award came from the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney. In 2011, her team helped map the Milky Way's magnetic fields. This was a big international effort.

In 2015, she left CSIRO. She joined the Australian National University as a professor. She does her research from the Mount Stromlo Observatory. In the same year, she received the Pawsey Medal. This award recognized her important work in physics.

See also

In Spanish: Naomi McClure-Griffiths para niños