Virginia Louise Trimble facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Virginia Louise Trimble
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Trimble in 1988
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| Born | November 15, 1943 |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | UCLA, Caltech, Cambridge |
| Known for | Annual reviews of Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Studies of telescope productivity |
| Spouse(s) | Joseph Weber |
| Awards | NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing Klopsteg Memorial Award George Van Biesbroeck Prize honorary doctorate from the University of Valencia Andrew Gemant Award |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Astrophysics, cosmology, history of astronomy, history of science |
| Thesis | Motions and structure of the filamentary envelope of the Crab Nebula |
| Doctoral advisor | Guido Münch |
Virginia Louise Trimble, born on November 15, 1943, is an American astronomer. She studies how stars and galaxies are made and how they change over time. She also loves learning about the history of astronomy and other sciences.
Dr. Trimble has written over 600 papers about astrophysics, which is the study of the physics of the universe. She is well-known for writing a yearly summary of new discoveries in astronomy and astrophysics. She also often gives talks at big meetings for scientists. In 2018, she was honored by the American Astronomical Society for her many years of helping the society with ideas, organization, and money.
About Virginia Trimble's Life
Virginia Trimble grew up as the only child of a chemist father and a mother who was good with words. She lived close to two famous universities, UCLA and Caltech.
In 1962, when she was at UCLA, she was featured in a Life magazine article. The article was called "Behind a Lovely Face, a 180 I.Q." This showed how smart she was. The next year, she helped promote The Twilight Zone TV show. She was called "Miss Twilight Zone" and traveled around the country.
She earned her first degree from UCLA in 1964. Then, she got her Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in 1968. At that time, Caltech did not usually accept women students. Virginia Trimble was only the second woman allowed to use the Palomar Observatory.
After teaching for a year at Smith College and doing research for two years in Cambridge, England, Dr. Trimble joined the University of California, Irvine in 1971. She is now a professor of astronomy there.
In 1972, she met Joseph Weber, a professor who was a pioneer in studying gravitational waves. They got married just 11 days later. Until his death in 2000, she spent half of each school year as a visiting professor at the University of Maryland. Dr. Trimble also held important leadership roles. She was a vice president for the International Astronomical Union from 1994 to 2000. She was also a vice president for the American Astronomical Society from 1997 to 2000.
Awards and Recognitions
Virginia Trimble has received many awards for her important work:
- In 1986, she received the NAS Award for Scientific Reviewing. This was for her many helpful and detailed reviews that explained complex questions in astrophysics.
- The American Association of Physics Teachers gave her the Klopsteg Memorial Award in 2001. This was for her leadership, her writings, and her dedication as a teacher.
- She received the George Van Biesbroeck Prize in 2010. This award recognized her many years of service to astronomers around the world. It also honored her expert summaries of progress in astrophysics and her support for astronomy organizations.
- In 2019, she was awarded the Andrew Gemant Award by the American Institute of Physics (AIP).
- She was chosen as a Legacy Fellow of the American Astronomical Society in 2020.
- An asteroid, 9271 Trimble, was named in her honor. It was discovered by astronomers Eleanor Helin and Schelte Bus in 1978.
- In 2024, she received the Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics from the American Physical Society.
See also
In Spanish: Virginia Trimble para niños
