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“I hope to inspire other young women to devote themselves to this field of knowledge. Physics is a study that can give so much satisfaction and if you are passionate about science, there is really a lot to do “. These were the first words of the researcher Andrea Ghez awarded with the Nobel Prize in Physics together with Reinhard Genzel for having discovered that the center of our galaxy, the Milky Way, is occupied by an invisible and massive object. In light of current knowledge, the only possible explanation is the existence of a black hole.
The scientist is the fourth woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Physics. To push Andrea Ghez towards this career, were the first landings on the Moon that fascinated her to the point of making her choose the study of science.
The scholar, in truth, dreamed of becoming the first female astronaut, an intent in which she succeeded, and her mother has always supported this goal. Her most influential female role model was her high school chemistry teacher. He started in college studying mathematics, then moved on to physics. She graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1987 and earned her PhD under the direction of Gerry Neugebauer from the California Institute of Technology in 1992.
In 2004 she was accepted as a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Career commitment did not stop her from building a family. Andrea Ghez, in fact, is married to the geologist Tom LaTourrette, a researcher at the RAND Corporation and has two children. She is also a passionate swimmer: she considers this discipline her escape from science.
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