Jane Charlton
For
Jane Charlton astronomy offers a quest for
insights into why we are here and what it is that
we should do in our lives. The wonders of space
always meant to her that there is something more
- something beyond. So even when she was a child
of five, growing up in a suburb of Pittburgh, PA,
she knew she wanted to become an astronomer (and
she stuck to it even when people where trying to
convince her that being a research chemist would
be a safer path). She got her BA at the Carnegie-Mellon
University in Pittsburgh and her Masters degree
and PhD at the University of Chicago. Since 1992
she has been working as a faculty member at the
Pennsylvania
State University. Although, most of the time
it does not feel like work at all. "I just get up
and explore the Universe every day. It used to seem
difficult all the time, but now it is like reading
a novel you can't put down." Apart from her work
she likes baseball and classical piano.
Jane Charlton specializes in extragalactic astronomy
and has focused recently on quasar absorption lines
and galaxy evolution and on the role of interactions
and mergers in galaxy formation. She longs to be
able to replay the history of galaxies and see in
her mind the dynamic and majestic events that happened
when they formed - and to understand why.
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