Anna Frebel

Anna Frebel
Anna Frebel (2022)
Born	1980 (age 44–45) Berlin, Germany
Nationality	German
Alma mater	Australian National University
Known for	Discovering the oldest stars in the universe
Awards	Ludwig Biermann Award Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy
Scientific career
Fields	Astronomy
Institutions	MIT Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics University of Texas
Thesis	Abundance analysis of bright metal-poor stars from the Hamburg/ESO survey (2006)
Doctoral advisor	John Edward Norris
Other academic advisors	Martin Asplund Michael Stanley Bessell

Anna Frebel (born 1980 in Berlin) is a German astronomer and author working on discovering the oldest stars in the universe.

Career

Anna Frebel grew up in Göttingen, Germany.[1] After finishing high school, she began studying physics in Freiburg im Breisgau but did not finish the physics program and did not obtain a physics degree there. Instead she enrolled in an astronomy program in Australia, where she obtained a PhD in Astronomy from the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra. Shortly thereafter, a W. J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellowship brought her to the University of Texas at Austin in 2006, where she continued her studies.[2]

From 2009 to 2011, she was a Clay Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge (MA).

In 2012 she moved to Massachusetts Institute of Technology, achieving promotion to full professor in 2022.[3]

Discoveries

In 2005, Frebel discovered the star HE 1327-2326, which is the most iron-deficient star, stemming from a time very shortly after the Big Bang. In 2007 she also discovered the red giant star HE 1523-0901, which is about 13.2 billion years old.

Awards and honors

• 2007: Charlene Heisler Prize for the best astronomy PhD in 2006 in Australia[4]
• 2009: Opening presentation XLAB Science Festival, Göttingen
• 2009: Ludwig Biermann Award (Young Astronomer Award) of the German Astronomical Society
• 2010: Annie J. Cannon Award of the American Astronomical Society[3]
• 2010: Lise Meitner Lecturer, Göttingen[1][5] and Innsbruck
• 2011: Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
• 2022: Fellow of the American Physical Society[6]

Publications (selection)

• Searching for the Oldest Stars — Ancient Relicts from the Early Universe, Princeton University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780691165066
• Auf der Suche nach den ältesten Sternen (in German), Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlage, 2012, ISBN 978-3-10-021512-3
• Astronomical Society of the Pacific, ed. (2008), New horizons in astronomy : Frank N. Bash Symposium 2007 : proceedings of a workshop held at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas, USA, 14–16 October 2007, San Francisco

References

1. "Kosmische Methusalems | Lise-Meitner-Lectures: Die Astrophysikerin Anna Frebel erzählt von den ältesten Sternen des Weltalls". www.dpg-physik.de (in German). German Physical Society. 21 October 2010. Retrieved 20 May 2023.
2. Schroeder, Bendta (4 June 2018). "Meet the School of Science's tenured professors for 2018". MIT Press. MIT News. Retrieved 26 September 2023.
3. Anna Frebel at MIT Physics
4. "The Charlene Heisler Prize". Retrieved 20 May 2023.
5. "Physikerinnen als Role Models" (in Austrian German). Der Standard. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 10 September 2019.
6. "Fellows nominated in 2022". APS Fellows archive. American Physical Society. Retrieved 19 October 2022.

External links

• Anna Frebel at MIT Physics
• Anna Frebel, Princeton University Press
• Anna Frebel, fischerverlage.de