The Astrophysicist We Should Remember
The other day, I was trying to find non-white astronomers for a reading list I was making, and it is HARD. Especially when you’re looking for authors of books. But in my searchings, I found Beth A. Brown and she’s awesome and I want you to know more about her.
Brown was a NASA astrophysicist, focusing on black holes. Already super cool. Before that, she graduated summa cum laude from Howard University, where she studied (obvs) astrophysics, and then got a PhD at the University of Michigan!:
While she was at the University of Michigan, Beth gave tours at the local planetarium and even developed a one-credit course in naked-eye astronomy- a chance for students with no astronomy experience to learn without needing a telescope. The course was very popular and still exists today. (x)
She loved space so much, she was like, I’m gonna make it as easy as possible for people to learn about it. “I want to translate my wonder of the night sky to others,” she said. She served in a leadership role with the National Society of Black Physicists, and at NASA, she collected data on the environment of elliptical galaxies, which is where the black hole thing came in.
At the age of 39 (39!!), she died from a pulmonary embolism. She was a leader, a role model, and someone who found what she loved and pursued it, which is admirable as hell. She loved Star Wars and Star Trek, and I wish she were still around to write a book.
There’s a short documentary on YouTube about her if you want to learn more. Which you should!