Beatrice Tinsley: Trailblazing Astrophysicist and Pioneer in Cosmology
Image Courtesy: Google Doodle
Beatrice Tinsley (27 January 1941 – 23 March 1981) was a British-born New Zealand astronomer and cosmologist and professor of astronomy at Yale University, whose research made fundamental contributions to the astronomical understanding of how galaxies evolve, grow and die.
Life and Career
She was born on 27 January 1941 in Chester, England. She made significant contributions to the field of galaxy evolution. She attended the University of Canterbury in New Zealand before moving to the United States to pursue graduate studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She then moved to Yale University where she obtained her Ph.D. in Astronomy. She was the first woman to be appointed as a full-time faculty member in the Astronomy Department at Yale. Tinsley’s research focused on understanding the evolution of galaxies and the processes that drive their changes over time. She was particularly interested in the effects of star formation and the role of dark matter in galaxy formation.
Tinsley died at the young age of just 38 on 23 March 1981, but her work continues to be influential in the field of astronomy.
Award and Legacy
In 1986 the American Astronomical Society established the Beatrice M. Tinsley Prize, which recognizes “an outstanding research contribution to astronomy or astrophysics, of an exceptionally creative or innovative character. The main-belt asteroid 3087 Beatrice Tinsley, discovered in 1981 at Mt John University Observatory near Tekapo, is also named after her.
In 2018, the Yale Society of Physics Students began an inaugural prize lecture in honor of Tinsley. A 2019 $1.20 New Zealand postage stamp in a series of “New Zealand Space Pioneers” honours her. On 27 January 2016, Google Doodle celebrated Beatrice Tinsley’s 75th Birthday.
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