Astronomy

Early Life

Maria was born in Santiago, Chile, in 1946. She fell in love with astronomy after attending a summer school about it. She went on to study astronomy in Chile and was the first person to graduate from this program in 1971. Ruiz earned her PhD in Astrophysics in 1975 and became the first woman to earn a PhD from Princeton.

Career highlights

Maria held a research post at the Trieste Observatory between 1975 and 1976 while doing her PhD. She also worked for two years at the Institute of Astronomy at UNAM in Mexico.

Early Life

Legesse Wetro was born in Cire, a small town in Ethiopia. In 1967, he started studying physics at Addis Ababa University. There, he joined a Christian student group and enjoyed singing in the church choir. After his first degree in 1972, he stayed to teach physics. But Legesse wanted to learn more. He earned a master's degree from the University of Sheffield, UK, and a PhD in astrophysics from the University of California, US. Through all this time, he also wrote many gospel songs that people still enjoy today.

Early Life

Maram Kaire was born in Dakar, Senegal, in 1978. Since he was 12, he has been interested in astronomy. He read books about space and even built a telescope at the age of 14! At the time, astronomy was not popular in Senegal. 

There weren't many jobs or courses in the field. His parents did not want him to study space, so he chose computer science instead. Later, he moved to France to study Systems and Network Engineering. After that, he returned to Senegal to inspire his country's interest in space.

Early Life

Joyful Mdhluli grew up in Mpumalanga, South Africa. She is proud to be the first person in her family to attend university. Joyful earned her Bachelor's, Master's and PhD degrees from the University of Witwatersrand. 

At first, she wasn't sure if she wanted to become a physicist. But, during her Master's studies, she realised that a career in physics would help her reach her full potential.

Early Life

Farouk El-Baz was born in 1938 in Zagazig. In school, he liked science. He earned his bachelor's degree in Chemistry-Geology in 1958 in Egypt. In 1961, he got his master's in geology. 

After this, in 1964, he got his PhD also in geology. During his PhD, he did research at MIT. When he was a child, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he touched the Black Stone. This made him come up with the idea of touchable moon rocks at museums.