Quick Facts
Biography
Anna Frebel (born 1980 in Berlin) is a German astronomer working on discovering the oldest stars in the universe.
Career
Anna Frebel grew up Göttingen, Germany. After finishing high school, she studied physics in Freiburg im Breisgau. She continued her studies in Australia, and obtained her PhD from the Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatoryin Canberra. A W. J. McDonald Postdoctoral Fellowship brought her to the University of Texasat Austin in 2006, where she continued her studies.
From 2009 to 2011 she was a Clay Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge (Massachusetts). Since 2012 she is an assistant professor of physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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
- 2009: Opening presentation XLAB Science Festival, Göttingen
- 2009:Ludwig Biermann Award (Young Astronomer Award) of the German Astronomical Society
- 2010: Annie J. Cannon Awardof the American Astronomical Society
- 2010: Lise Meitner Lecturer, Göttingen and Innsbruck
- 2011: Kavli Frontiers of Science Fellow, National Academy of Sciences
Publications (selection)
- Auf der Suche nach den ältesten Sternen (in German), Frankfurt am Main: Fischer, 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 (in German), San Francisco