ESOblog
Which role models inspired some of ESO’s astronomers and engineers and why
The achievements and influence of these inspirational female role models in science and engineering To mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we spoke to astronomers and engineers at ESO to find out who their female role model in science or engineering is and how they inspired them in their careers. We highlight those inspiring figures in this blog post.
Margaret Burbidge
My favourite female role model is the astronomer Margaret Burbidge, says Paola Amico, a system engineer for the Extremely Large Telescope instruments. Margaret Burbidge was one of the founders of stellar nucleosynthesis, the now well-established theory that chemical elements are formed by nuclear fusion within stars. She later worked on galaxy rotation curves and quasars, discovering the most distant astronomical object then known.