Penny Sackett
| Penny Sackett | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 February 1956 Lincoln, Nebraska, USA |
| Residence | Australia |
| Nationality | American, Australian |
| Fields | Astronomy |
| Institutions | Australian National University |
| Alma mater | University of Pittsburgh |
| Known for | work on a microlensing technique to hunt for extrasolar planets |
Penny Diane Sackett (born 28 February 1956) is an American-born Australianastronomer and former director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (RSAA) at the Australian National University (ANU). Professor Sackett was the Chief Scientist of Australia from November 2008 until March 2011.
Born in Lincoln, Nebraska—the daughter of an accountant and a business machine technician— Sackett spent her childhood in Omaha. She was interested in science from a very young age, and her original inclination was towards biology and medicine. While initially unenthusiastic about physics, Sackett developed a passion for the discipline through being mentored by her high school physics teacher.
Her undergraduate study was at University of Nebraska at Omaha, graduating summa cum laude in 1978. In 1984, she completed her Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University of Pittsburgh. Her thesis title is Scale Parameters for Finite Temperature Actions of Lattice Gauge Theories Coupled to Fermions.
Sackett worked for a time as a reporter for Science News and in program administration for the National Science Foundation. She has previously held positions at Kapteyn Astronomical Institute and the Institute for Advanced Study.
From 2002, Sackett was the director of the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics (a part of ANU) for five years until standing down to concentrate on mentoring and research. In her role as director, Sackett was responsible for the management of Mount Stromlo Observatory in Canberra and Siding Spring Observatory in Coonabarabran, New South Wales. As director of the Mount Stromlo observatory, she was responsible for its reconstruction after the 2003 Canberra bushfires. The reconstruction work proved difficult due to disagreements with the insurers and was further complicated by the heritage status of the observatory requiring the Australian Heritage Commission to approve all works.
...
Wikipedia