Paula Jofré facts for kids

Paula Jofré (born 1982) is a Chilean astronomer and astrophysicist. She is known for her amazing work on "star DNA." This research helps us understand how stars are connected, much like how families share DNA.

In 2019, Time Magazine named her one of their "100 Next" for her important discoveries. She worked with a British expert named Robert Foley. Together, they found that stars born in the same part of the universe are related. They share similar chemical ingredients, just like parents pass on parts of their DNA to their children.

About Paula Jofré

Paula Jofré was born in 1982. She is the oldest of three daughters. Her father is Chilean and her mother is German.

Her Journey to Astronomy

Paula went to school at the Colegio Alemán de Santiago and Colegio Santa Úrsula de Vitacura. Her interest in space started with a school project. Her mom suggested she visit an observatory.

She went to the National Astronomical Observatory (Chile) and met an astronomer named José Maza. This meeting sparked her love for astronomy.

Her Studies and Work

Paula decided to study astronomy at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. After graduating, she earned a scholarship. This allowed her to study in Germany at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. She then got her Ph.D. from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Later, Paula and her family moved to France. There, she worked at the University of Bordeaux. She helped with projects for the Gaia space mission. This mission maps billions of stars in our galaxy.

Next, she joined the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge in England. She also became part of King's College. It was here that she met Robert Foley.

Discovering "Star DNA"

With Robert Foley, Paula began to study "star DNA." They looked at how stars are related. Imagine stars as family members. Stars born from the same gas cloud have very similar chemicals. This is like siblings sharing a lot of the same DNA.

Paula and her team even created a family tree for 21 stars. These stars are like siblings to our own Sun! They shared their findings in a science paper in 2017.

In 2017, Paula returned to Chile. She became a professor at the Diego Portales University in Santiago.

What Paula Jofré Researches

Paula's research helps us understand our home galaxy, the Milky Way. She studies the light from stars in great detail. This helps her learn about the chemicals that make up stars.

She develops "family trees" for stars. These trees show how stars are connected based on where their matter came from. With Robert Foley, she has studied the Sun and 21 other nearby stars. They found a "genetic" link between them and mapped out their family connections.

Her Personal Life

Paula Jofré is married to another astronomer, Thomas Maedler. They have two children.

Recognitions

• Named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people of the year, 2019.
• Recognized by Science News magazine as one of the 10 most promising scientists under 40 in the world.

See also

In Spanish: Paula Jofré para niños