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Anna Frebel

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Anna Frebel
Anna Frebel (2022)
Born1980 (age 43–44)
Berlin, Germany
NationalityGerman
Alma materAustralian National University
Known forDiscovering the oldest stars in the universe
AwardsLudwig Biermann Award
Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
InstitutionsMIT
Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
University of Texas
ThesisAbundance analysis of bright metal-poor stars from the Hamburg/ESO survey (2006)
Doctoral advisorJohn Edward Norris
Other academic advisorsMartin Asplund
Michael Stanley Bessell

Anna Frebel (born 1980 in Berlin) is a German astronomer and author working on discovering the oldest stars in the universe.

Career

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Anna Frebel grew up in Göttingen, Germany.[1] After finishing high school, she began studying physics in Freiburg im Breisgau but did not finish the physics program and did not obtain a physics degree there. Instead she enrolled in an astronomy program in Australia, where she obtained a PhD in Astronomy from the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra. Shortly thereafter, a W. J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellowship brought her to the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, where she continued her studies.[2]

From 2009 to 2011, she was a Clay Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge (MA).

In 2012 she moved to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, achieving promotion to full professor in 2022.[3]

Discoveries

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In 2005, Frebel discovered the star HE 1327-2326, which is the most iron-deficient star, stemming from a time very shortly after the Big Bang. In 2007 she also discovered the red giant star HE 1523-0901, which is about 13.2 billion years old.

Awards and honors

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Publications (selection)

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  • Searching for the Oldest Stars — Ancient Relicts from the Early Universe, Princeton University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780691165066
  • Auf der Suche nach den ältesten Sternen (in German), Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlage, 2012, ISBN 978-3-10-021512-3
  • Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ed. (2008), New horizons in astronomy : Frank N. Bash Symposium 2007 : proceedings of a workshop held at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA, 14–16 October 2007, San Francisco{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)

References

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  1. ^ a b "Kosmische Methusalems | Lise-Meitner-Lectures: Die Astrophysikerin Anna Frebel erzählt von den ältesten Sternen des Weltalls". www.dpg-physik.de (in German). German Physical Society. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  2. ^ Schroeder, Bendta (4 June 2018). "Meet the School of Science's tenured professors for 2018". MIT Press. MIT News. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b Anna Frebel at MIT Physics
  4. ^ "The Charlene Heisler Prize". Retrieved 20 May 2023.
  5. ^ "Physikerinnen als Role Models" (in Austrian German). Der Standard. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
  6. ^ "Fellows nominated in 2022". APS Fellows archive. American Physical Society. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
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