Andrea Ghez is an appropriate choice for my first post about a Science Hero.  If you read my first blog post you know that I had a subscription to Discover magazine when I was in grade school and high school.  One of my favourite articles that I read and cut out for my wall was the Top 20 Most Influential Modern Scientists in the United States.  Dr. Ghez was featured for her work in astrophysics, and she became my first science hero.

She is an astronomer and professor at UCLA, and she has been featured on TED Talks.  She continues to research exciting topics such as black holes, like the one she confirmed lies at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy, using the kinematics (science of motion) of stars.  She is currently working on developing high spatial resolution imaging techniques to further her research.

“Few people know the center of the Milky Way — some 26,000 light-years from Earth — as intimately as Andrea Ghez.” — Nova

Fun fact:  Dr. Ghez has written a children’s book called You Can Be a Woman Astronomer.  Dr. Ghez believes that people who enjoy puzzles like crosswords, jigsaw and Rubik’s cubes possess qualities, such as being able to imagine abstract ideas, that would make them good astronomers.