Nicola Justine Fox (born 1968) is the Associate Administrator for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Science Mission Directorate The Science Mission Directorate (SMD) of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is one of the six directorates that constitute NASA. Its responsibility is to define and direct research into scientific questions of interest, shari ...

. Appointed to the position in February 2023, she is therefore NASA's head of science. She previously served as the Director of NASA's

Heliophysics Science Division The ''Heliophysics Science Division'' of the Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) conducts research on the Sun, its extended Solar System environment (the heliosphere), and interactions of Earth, other planets, small bodies, and interstellar gas wit ...

and in the

Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University ...

at the

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

. Fox was the lead scientist for the

Parker Solar Probe The Parker Solar Probe (PSP; previously Solar Probe, Solar Probe Plus or Solar Probe+) is a NASA space probe launched in 2018 to make observations of the Stellar corona, Sun's outer corona. It used repeated Gravity assist, gravity assists from ...

, and served as the Science and Operations Coordinator for the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative.

Early life and education

Fox was born in

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district of Hertfordshire, England. The town dates from at least the 7th century. It lies in the valley of the River Hiz at the north-eastern end of the Chiltern Hills ...

, Hertfordshire, England. When she was eight months old her father showed her the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

Moon landing on television. He continued to encourage her love of science, explaining to her the movement of the planets and identifying stars in the night's sky. She attended St. Francis' College in

Letchworth Garden City Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first Garden city movement, garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 United Kin ...

, a private all girls school. When she arrived at university she was often the only girl in her science classes. Fox completed a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

in 1990. She earned a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

in Telecommunications and Satellite Engineering at the

University of Surrey The University of Surrey is a public research university in Guildford, Surrey, England. The university received its Royal Charter, royal charter in 1966, along with a Plate glass university, number of other institutions following recommendations ...

in 1991. She returned to Imperial College London for her doctoral studies, and served as the

Imperial College Union Imperial College Union is the Students' Union, students' union of Imperial College London. It is host to varied societies and has student bars situated around Albertopolis. The Union is based in the north wing of the Beit Quadrangle on Prince Co ...

's Women's Officer. She completed a PhD in

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

and

atmospheric physics Within the atmospheric sciences, atmospheric physics is the application of physics to the study of the atmosphere. Atmospheric physicists attempt to model Earth's atmosphere and the atmospheres of the other planets using fluid flow equations, rad ...

at Imperial College London in 1995. Her dissertation investigated

geomagnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere that is driven by interactions between the magnetosphere and large-scale transient Plasma (physics), plasma and magnetic field structur ...

s and was supervised by

Stan Cowley Stanley William Herbert Cowley (born 1947) is a British physicist, Emeritus Professor of Solar Planetary Physics at the University of Leicester. Education Cowley was educated at Caludon Castle School, Coventry, and Imperial College, London, g ...

. Fox received an honorary doctorate from the University of Hertfordshire on 12 September 2024.

Research and career

After her PhD, Fox moved to the

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C., in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959, as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC ...

as a

US National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific national academy of the United States. The name i ...

postdoctoral A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary acade ...

fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

, where she was mentored by

Mario Acuña Mario Acuña (March 12, 1940 – March 5, 2009) was an Argentine research scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in the Space Plasmas and Planetary Magnetospheres Branches, and then as a Senior Astrophysicist. He was a major pione ...

. At Goddard, Fox worked on Sun-Earth connections. Fox led outreach programs on

space weather Space weather is a branch of space physics and aeronomy, or heliophysics, concerned with the varying conditions within the Solar System and its heliosphere. This includes the effects of the solar wind, especially on the Earth's magnetosphere, ion ...

, and has continued public engagement throughout her scientific career. Fox joined

in 1998, where she remained as Science and Operations coordinator for the International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative. Her research focuses on solar system plasma physics and data analysis. She studies the

magnetopause The magnetopause is the abrupt boundary between a magnetosphere and the surrounding Plasma (physics), plasma. For planetary science, the magnetopause is the boundary between the planet's magnetic field and the solar wind. The location of the ma ...

using a range of spacecraft. She has since worked on the NASA Polar spacecraft . In 2008 Fox was the Deputy Project Scientist for

Living With a Star Living With a Star (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society. LWS is a crosscutting initiative with goals and objectives relevant to NASA's Exploration Initiat ...

, NASA's

Van Allen Probes The Van Allen Probes, formerly known as the Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP), were two robotic spacecraft that were used to study the Van Allen radiation belts that surround Earth. NASA conducted the Van Allen Probes mission as part of the Liv ...

mission. Fox joined the

Heliophysics Heliophysics (from the prefix "wikt:helio-, helio", from Attic Greek ''hḗlios'', meaning Sun, and the noun "physics": the science of matter and energy and their interactions) is the physics of the Sun and its connection with the Solar System. ...

space research branch in 2015. She was lead Project Scientist for the

mission, and was present at the launch in August 2018. The probe looks to understand the

coronal heating problem In astronomy, a corona (: coronas or coronae) is the outermost layer of a star's Stellar atmosphere, atmosphere. It is a hot but relatively luminosity, dim region of Plasma (physics), plasma populated by intermittent coronal structures such as so ...

and the origins of the

solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles released from the Sun's outermost atmospheric layer, the Stellar corona, corona. This Plasma (physics), plasma mostly consists of electrons, protons and alpha particles with kinetic energy betwee ...

. In 2017 Fox delivered a TED talk on ''Touching the Sun.'' Fox moved to the

NASA Headquarters The Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters building at 300 E Street SW in Washington, D.C. houses NASA leadership who provide overall guidance and direction to the US government executive branch agency NASA, under the leadership of the NASA administ ...

in September 2018, when she was appointed as the Head of the

. Work in the Heliophysics Science Division considers space phenomena relating to the

sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

, and includes robotic missions and satellites. The deputy director is

Margaret Luce Margaret is a feminine given name, which means "pearl". It is of Latin origin, via Ancient Greek and ultimately from Old Iranian. It has been an English name since the 11th century, and remained popular throughout the Middle Ages. It became les ...

. Fox was appointed the Associate Administrator for NASA's

on February 27, 2023, making her the organization's Head of Science. Fox has served as Associate Editor for ''

Geophysical Research Letters ''Geophysical Research Letters'' is a biweekly peer-reviewed scientific journal of geoscience published by the American Geophysical Union that was established in 1974. The editor-in-chief iKristopher Karnauskas Aims and scope The journal aims for ...

'' and the ''

Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics The ''Journal of Atmospheric and Solar-Terrestrial Physics'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering the atmospheric and solar-terrestrial physics. It was established in 1950 as the ''Journal of Atmospheric and Terrestrial Physics'', ...

''. She is an expert for

The Planetary Society The Planetary Society is an American internationally-active non-governmental nonprofit organization. It is involved in research, public outreach, and political space advocacy for engineering projects related to astronomy, planetary science, a ...

Awards and honours

*1993

European Geosciences Union The European Geosciences Union (EGU) is a non-profit international union in the fields of Earth, planetary, and space sciences whose vision is to "realise a sustainable and just future for humanity and for the planet". The organisation has headq ...

Young Scientists Award *1997 International Solar-Terrestrial Physics Science Initiative Outstanding Performance Award *1998

NASA Group Achievement Award The NASA Group Achievement Award (GAA) is an award given by NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the U ...

*2000 NASA Group Achievement Award *2023 Interviewed by

Lauren Laverne Lauren Cecilia Fisher (née Gofton; born 28 April 1978), known professionally as Lauren Laverne, is an English radio DJ, model, television presenter, author and singer. She was the lead singer and guitarist in the alternative rock band Kenicki ...

on ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

Personal life

Fox married John Sigwarth but he died suddenly in 2010 when their children were very young. They had two children, James and Darcy, two and half years apart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Nicola 1969 births Living people Alumni of Imperial College London Alumni of the University of Surrey English expatriates in the United States NASA people People educated at St. Francis' College, Letchworth People from Hitchin British women astrophysicists British astrophysicists