Jessica Mink (formerly Douglas John Mink) is an American

software developer Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

and a data archivist at the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian. She was part of the team that discovered the rings around the planet Uranus.

Early life and career

Mink was born in

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska. The city covers and had a population of 291,082 as of the 2020 census. It is the state's List of cities in Nebraska, second-most populous city a ...

, in 1951 and graduated from Dundee Community High School in 1969. She earned an S.B. degree (1973) and an S.M. degree (1974) in

Planetary Science Planetary science (or more rarely, planetology) is the scientific study of planets (including Earth), celestial bodies (such as moons, asteroids, comets) and planetary systems (in particular those of the Solar System) and the processes of ...

from 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 ...

(MIT). She worked at Cornell University from 1976 to 1979 as an astronomical software developer. It was during this time that she was part of the team that discovered the rings around Uranus. Within the team she was responsible for the data reduction software and the data analysis. After working at Cornell she moved back to MIT, where she did work that contributed to the discovery of the rings of Neptune. She has written a number of commonly used software packages for astrophysics, including WCSTools and RVSAO. Despite not having a PhD, Mink is a member 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 ...

and the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

Personal life

Mink is an avid bicycle user. She has served as an officer and director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition and has been the route planner for the Massachusetts portion of the

East Coast Greenway The East Coast Greenway is a pedestrian and bicycle route between Maine and Florida along the East Coast of the United States. The nonprofit East Coast Greenway Alliance was created in 1991 with the goal to use the entire route with off-road, s ...

since 1991. Mink is a transgender woman, and she publicly came out in 2011 at the age of 60. She has since spoken out about her experiences transitioning. She was also featured in two articles about the experiences of transitioning in a professional environment. She was a co-organiser of the 2015 Inclusive Astronomy conference at Vanderbilt University. Mink currently lives in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

( USA), and has a daughter.

References

External links

Jessica Mink's Homepage
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mink, Jessica 1951 births Living people People from Lincoln, Nebraska Harvard University staff Massachusetts Institute of Technology alumni LGBTQ people from Nebraska American LGBTQ scientists American transgender women Transgender scientists American planetary scientists American women planetary scientists LGBTQ astronomers