Empowering female students and junior colleagues
Corinne Charbonnel is a full professor of astrophysics at the University of Geneva. This is not a matter of course, as she was only the second woman ever to be appointed to a professorship at the Astronomy Department of the University of Geneva. The 57-year-old scientist is a strong advocate for young female researchers, among other things as a mentor.
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Our central star in view
"I have a liking for the sun." This is the motto Louise Harra uses to headline her Twitter account. Indeed, the Northern Irish-born astrophysicist has devoted her entire research life to our central star. For three years now, the astrophysicist has been the head of the 'Physical-Meteorological Observatory Davos' (PMOD), a research institution rich in tradition for the exploration of the sun and the exact determination of solar radiation.
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An academic career close to home
Dr Anne Verhamme teaches as an assistant professor of Astronomy at the University of Geneva and researches how galaxies release energy into the universe. The 42-year-old French woman is also a mother of three teenagers and lives in Annecy. That sounds like a proof that a scientific career and family are compatible today. However, Anne Verhamme had to overcome a few hurdles before she got to that point.
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Sniffing out the comet 'Chury'
Every six and a half years, comet 'Chury' (short for: Churyumov-Gerassimenko) comes close to the sun on its orbit. The last time this happened in 2015, the lump of ice-dust, only a few cubic kilometres in size, was observed at close range by the space probe ROSETTA. Kathrin Altwegg played an important role in the spectacular space mission. For the astrophysicist from the University of Bern, the mission is still not over.
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"I was able to share the family work"
Ruth Durrer was the first woman to take an assistant professorship in theoretical physics at the University of Zurich. Almost 30 years have passed since this appointment, 30 years in which Ruth Durrer has left her mark on her field - cosmology and astrophysics - as a professor. Despite her personal success, the 63-year-old researcher cautions: "Women's careers in science are still far from being evident."
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