Rebecca Oppenheimer

Rebecca Oppenheimer
Residence U.S.
Fields Chemistry, Materials science
Institutions University of California, Berkeley
American Museum of Natural History
Education Horace Mann School
Alma mater Columbia University
California Institute of Technology
Known for astrophysics

Dr. Rebecca Oppenheimer (born as Ben R. Oppenheimer)[1] is an American astrophysicist and one of three curators in the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History on Manhattan's Upper West Side. Rebecca is an exoplanetary scientist[2] who develops new instruments to image planets orbiting stars other than the sun with the ultimate goal of finding life outside the solar system.[3]

Early life and education

Oppenheimer attended the Horace Mann School in the Bronx. After graduating in 1990, she attended Columbia University, where she was an I. I. Rabi Science Scholar. She received a BSc in Physics from Columbia in 1994. In 1999 she was granted a Ph.D. in astrophysics from the California Institute of Technology and spent the following two years at the University of California at Berkeley on a Hubble Space Telescope Postdoctoral Research Fellowship.

Career

Oppenheimer holds an adjunct professorship at Columbia University's Department of Astronomy and has published over one hundred research and public-oriented science articles. She is co-discoverer of the first brown dwarf, Gliese 229B,[4][5] and is active in research on exoplanets,[6] white dwarfs,[7] adaptive optics and coronagraphy.[8] Oppenheimer serves on NASA,[9] NSF and NRC committees. She is the principal investigator for Project 1640, an exoplanet imaging project.

In 2001, she moved back to New York City to conduct research at the American Museum of Natural History, where she joined the faculty in 2004. Oppenheimer regularly gives public and professional lectures on astronomical research.

Awards and Honors

2009: Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists[10], New York Academy of Sciences

2003: Carter Memorial Lecturer, Carter Observatory, Wellington, New Zealand

2002-2004: Kalbfleisch Research Fellowship, American Museum of Natural History

2002: National Academies of Science, Beckman Frontiers of Science, Invited Participant

1999-2002: Hubble Postdoctoral Research Fellowship[11][12]. In the fellows list, she is listed as Ben Oppenheimer.

1994-1997: National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship[13]

1990-1994: I.I. Rabi Science Scholar[14], Columbia University

1990: Westinghouse Science Competition, Honorable Mention

1989: New York Academy of Sciences Science Writing Competition, First Place

References

  1. ↑ "Rebecca Oppenheimer CV" (PDF). American Museum of Natural History. p. 2. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Exoplanetology". Wikipedia. 2017-06-08.
  3. ↑ "Rebecca Oppenheimer". the Guardian. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  4. ↑ Nakajima, T.; et al. (1995-11-20). "Discovery of a cool brown dwarf". Nature Publishing Group. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  5. ↑ Oppenheimer, B. R.; et al. (1995-12-01). "Infrared Spectrum of the Cool Brown Dwarf Gl 229B". Science Magazine. Retrieved 2006-12-12.
  6. ↑ "The Lyot Project Website". January 2004.
  7. ↑ "White Dwarfs by the Billions". May 2001.
  8. ↑ Overbye, Dennis (2004-06-22). "Grasping for Light of Distant Worlds". New York Times.
  9. ↑ "Terrestrial Planet Finder Science and Technology Definition Team". March 2005.
  10. ↑ "The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists | The New York Academy of Sciences". nyas. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  11. ↑ "Listing of all Hubble Fellows 1990-2017". www.stsci.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  12. ↑ "Hubble Fellowships". www.stsci.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  13. ↑ "Home - NSF Graduate Research Fellowships Program (GRFP)". www.nsfgrfp.org. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
  14. ↑ "I.I. Rabi Scholars Program | Columbia College". www.college.columbia.edu. Retrieved 2017-07-19.
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