Legesse Wetro
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.
Year born: 1950
Research Areas: Astrophysics, Pulsars, Geophysics, Magnetic Fields
Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz
Early Life
Enrico Ramirez Ruiz was born and raised in Mexico City. His parents were chemists who worked for the local university. From a young age, he wanted to answer the big questions, such as how the Universe was made.
Year born: ~1975
Research Areas: Stellar explosions, Gamma-Ray Bursts, Black holes, Neutron stars, Gravitational Waves
Stellar Evolution
All stars form in nebulae, huge clouds of gas and dust.
Though they shine for thousands of years, stars do not last forever. The changes that occur in a star over time and the final stage of its life depends on a star's size.
Blackholes
Black holes are very strange objects. They are made during supernova explosions. These take place when very massive stars come to the end of their lives.
Tana Joseph
Early Life
Tana grew up in Cape Town, South Africa as the daughter of two science teachers. When she was 11 years old, the newspaper printed images from the Hubble Space Telescope on their front page. The pictures inspired Tana to become an astronomer. She went on to study physics and astronomy at university. After receiving a scholarship, she gained her PhD in the UK in 2013.
Year born: 1984
Research Areas: Extragalactic X-ray Binaries, Radio Astronomy
"Science isn’t done until it is communicated."
Pair the Stages of a Star
Though they shine for many thousands, and even millions of years, stars do not last for ever. They ignite, burn, and then run out of fuel and go out.
Can you match the images of each stage of a star's existence to the correct description?
Karl Schwarzschild
Year born: 1873
Research Areas: Relativity, Black Holes, Quantum Theory, Stars, Comets
"Mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, march in one front."
Stephen Hawking
Early Life
Stephen was born in 1942 in Oxford, UK during World War II. He decided that he wanted to study mathematics at university, but his father wanted him to choose medicine instead. He was accepted into University College Oxford but because they did not offer a degree in mathematics, Stephen chose to study physics. After three years (and, in his words, "not very much work"), he graduated with a first-class honours degree in natural sciences. From there, he went on to study cosmology at Cambridge University.
Year born: 1942
Research Areas: Cosmology, Theoretical Physics
"All my life, I have been fascinated by the big questions that face us, and have tried to find scientific answers to them."