American astrophysicist, Margaret J. Geller (b. 1947) has done extensive work mapping galaxy clusters and the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. In 1989, she discovered "the Great Wall". In 2017, you voted for her for the Nob'Elle physics prize!
Beginnings of a career as an astrophysicist
Daughter of Sarah Levine Geller and Seymour Geller, Margaret Geller was born on December 8, 1947, in Ithaca, Illinois. New York State in the United States. She studied at Berkeley in California, then at Princeton University in New Jersey, from which she graduated with a doctorate in physics in 1975.
Margaret originally planned to work in solid-state physics but soon became interested in astrophysics and the structure of the Universe. She works at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, in Massachusetts, at the Cambridge Astronomical Institute and at Harvard before joining the scientific teams of the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Cartography of the Universe
Margaret Geller embarked on pioneering work in the mapping of galaxies and the distribution of dark matter in the Universe. His research topics include the analysis of the internal structure of galaxies, such as the Milky Way, galaxy clusters and the relationship between these clusters and the structure of the Universe on a larger scale. The maps she produced in the 1980s offered a new vision of the distribution of galaxies.
In 1989, Margaret discovered "the Great Wall" with John Huchra:it is a filament of galaxies and the fourth largest known structure in the Universe, located approximately 200 million light years from Earth .
Margaret also participates in discovering stars at high speed.
Scientific mediation
Margaret Geller has made several films aimed at disseminating scientific culture to the general public. In 1989, his video Where the Galaxies Are (Where the Galaxies Are), showcasing the structure of the known Universe, earns him a CINE Gold Eagle . She then directed the film So Many Galaxies…So Little Time, aired at National Air and Space Museum , National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Alongside the creation of films, Margaret is involved in the dissemination of scientific culture by giving numerous conferences around the world.
Margaret Geller is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Physical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.