Jacqueline Nina Hewitt (born September 4, 1958) is an American astrophysicist. She was the first person to discover an

Einstein ring An Einstein ring, also known as an Einstein–Chwolson ring or Chwolson ring (named for Orest Chwolson), is created when light from a galaxy or star passes by a massive object en route to the Earth. Due to gravitational lensing, the light is di ...

. She is a Fellow of the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

Early life and education

Hewitt was born in Washington, D.C., on September 4, 1958, to parents Warren E. Hewitt, a retired international lawyer from the State Department, and Gertrud (Graedel) Hewitt. She attended

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

where she graduated magna cum laude with a degree in economics in 1980. Hewitt took an astronomy class at Haverford College her sophomore year, which sparked her interest in science. She attended the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

for graduate school. During her graduate studies, she began studying gravitational lensing using the

Very Large Array The Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) is a centimeter-wavelength radio astronomy observatory in the southwestern United States built in the 1970s. It lies in central New Mexico on the Plains of San Agustin, between the towns of Magdalena, Ne ...

radio telescope. Hewitt obtained a Ph.D. in physics in 1986. Some sources erroneously state that she received her Ph.D. in 1988.

Career

Hewitt was appointed with a postdoctoral fellowship at MIT as part of the

Very-long-baseline interferometry Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telescopes on Earth or in space. T ...

unit from 1986 to 1988. While analyzing the data from her graduate studies, she found a ring on her computer screen. This ring, part of the gravitational lens system MG1131+0456, ended up being the very first Einstein ring discovered. Since Hewitt's groundbreaking discovery, many other Einstein rings have been discovered, and were found to be far more common than astronomers thought. Einstein rings are important because they can help answer questions about the size and the fate of our universe. Hewitt worked as a researcher at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

's Department of Astrophysical Sciences in 1988. After one year of researching at Princeton, she returned to MIT as an assistant physics professor, working as a full-time professor since 1989. Hewitt is also the principal investigator for the Radio Astronomy Group of the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. Since 2002, Hewitt has been appointed Director of the MIT Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research.

Honors

In 1990, Hewitt won the

David and Lucile Packard Foundation The David and Lucile Packard Foundation is a private foundation that provides grants to not-for-profit organizations. It was created in 1964 by David Packard (co-founder of HP) and his wife Lucile Salter Packard. Following David Packard's dea ...

fellowship. For her work on gravitational lenses, her colleagues at MIT nominated her for the 1995–1996 Harold E. Edgerton Award. In 1995, Hewitt was the recipient of the

Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award The Maria Goeppert-Mayer Award is an annual prize presented by the American Physical Society in recognition of an outstanding contribution to physics research by a woman. It recognizes and enhances outstanding achievements by women physicists in th ...

and in 1989 the

Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy The Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy is awarded annually by the American Astronomical Society (AAS) to a woman resident of North America, who is within five years of receipt of a PhD, for distinguished contributions to astronomy or for similar ...

for her work in radio astronomy. She was elected a Legacy Fellow of the

in 2020.

Personal life

Hewitt has two children: Keith Hewitt Redwine, born in 1988, and Jonathan Hewitt Redwine, born in 1993.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hewitt, Jacqueline 1958 births Living people Scientists from Washington, D.C. American women scientists American astrophysicists Bryn Mawr College alumni American women astronomers Recipients of the Annie J. Cannon Award in Astronomy Massachusetts Institute of Technology School of Science alumni Fellows of the American Astronomical Society 21st-century American women Fellows of the American Physical Society