Silvia Torres-Peimbert (also known as Silvia Linda Torres Castilleja, born in 1940) is a Mexican astronomer. She won the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2011 for Latin America for her work determining the chemical composition of nebulae.

Life

Torres-Peimbert was born in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in 1940. She studied Physics at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(NAUM) before going to the

University of California in Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. She returned to Mexico to conduct post-doctoral research at her alma mater. She studied

star formation Star formation is the process by which dense regions within molecular clouds in interstellar space—sometimes referred to as "stellar nurseries" or "star-forming regions"—Jeans instability, collapse and form stars. As a branch of astronomy, sta ...

and the mass thrown out by mid-size stars. She has studied the distribution of the primordial helium abundance. In 1973 she became a professor in the Faculty of Sciences and the Institute of Astronomy at UNAM and was the director of Institute of Astronomy from 1998 to 2002. During this time she worked closely with Manuel Peimbert, her husband. Torres-Peimbert and Peimbert had both been students of Guillermo Haro (Haro was in 1959 the first person elected to the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

from a developing country). Torres-Peimbert was the editor of

Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica The ''Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica'' (often ''RevMexAA'' or ''RMxAA'') is a peer-reviewed scientific journal of astronomy founded in 1974. It is a successor to the ''Boletín de los Observatorios de Tonantzintla y Tacubaya'' whic ...

from 1974 to 1998 Silvia Torres-Peimbert
unam.mx, retrieved 17 March 2014 Torres-Peimbert was named President of 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 ...

for the 2015-2018 period, becoming the second woman to preside over the IAU.

Recognition

Torres-Peimbert is a member of the

Mexican Academy of Sciences The Mexican Academy of Sciences ''(Academia Mexicana de Ciencias)'' is a non-profit organization comprising over 1800 distinguished Mexico, Mexican scientists, attached to various institutions in the country, as well as a number of eminent forei ...

, and 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 Academy of Sciences of the Developing World.Professor Silvia Torres-Peimbert wins the L'Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
International Astronomical Union, retrieved 18 March 2014 She won the L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science in 2011 for Latin America. The award is given annually to leading women scientists with an award being given to five continents. She won the award for investigating the "chemical composition of nebulae" which the organisers considered essential to our understanding of the beginning of the cosmos. She also won the

Hans A. Bethe Prize The Hans A. Bethe Prize, is presented annually by the American Physical Society. The prize honors outstanding work in theory, experiment or observation in the areas of astrophysics, nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, or closely related fields ...

in 2012 for her work in determining the quantities of helium and other elements during the development of the universe. Knowing about these elements allows cosmologists to understand the evolution of stars and galaxies.2012 Hans A. Bethe Prize Recipient
American Physical Society, retrieved 18 March 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres-Peimbert, Silvia 1940 births Living people Scientists from Mexico City Mexican women astronomers Mexican astronomers National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science laureates 21st-century women scientists Presidents of the International Astronomical Union Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences National Prize for Arts and Sciences (Mexico)