Margaret J. Geller
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031107
On this date in 1947, astrophysicist Margaret J. Geller was born in Ithaca, New York. After earning a PhD in physics from Princeton she was a professor at Harvard University for three years then joined the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory part of the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, where she has been ever since. In the 1980s she pioneered the first maps of the large-scale structure of the universe and has developed techniques for studying the internal structure and total mass of galaxy clusters and their relationship with the large-scale structure. She is also a co-discoverer of hypervelocity stars, which often have velocities greater than the escape velocity of the galaxy. (Image credit: Scott Kenyon, CfA)
Date in History: 8 December 1947
