Susan Murabana Owen is a Kenyan astronomer. The co-founder of Travelling Telescope, she is known for her efforts to promote

science, technology, engineering and mathematics Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) is an umbrella term used to group together the distinct but related technical disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The term is typically used in the context of ...

in Africa, particularly among girls.

Early life and education

Murabana grew up in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, and studied sociology and economics at the city's

Catholic University of Eastern Africa Catholic University of Eastern Africa (CUEA) is a multi-campus private university in Kenya. It is accredited by the Commission for University Education in Kenya. Location The main campus of the university is located along Bogani East Road, in ...

. In 2011, she graduated with a master's degree in

astronomy Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and the phenomena that occur in the cosmos. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and their overall evolution. Objects of interest includ ...

from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

in Australia, having studied online. Murabana has cited

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

astronaut

Mae Jemison Mae Carol Jemison (born October 17, 1956) is an American engineer, physician, and former NASA astronaut. She became the first African-American woman to travel into space when she served as a mission specialist aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavou ...

and Kenyan environmentalist

Wangari Maathai Wangari is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to: * Wangari Maathai (1940–2011), Kenyan environmental and political activist * Catherine Wangari Wainaina (born 1985), Kenyan beauty pageant contestant * Margaret Wangari Muriuki (born 1986), K ...

as her heroes.

Astronomy career

Voluntary work

Murabana first became interested in space when she was in her twenties, when her uncle invited her to attend a science outreach programme in

Mumias Mumias is a town in Kakamega County of Kenya. The town has an urban population of 116,358 (2009 census) and is the second largest town in Kakamega County. Mumias was the centre of the Mumias District. The town is linked by road to Kakamega (in ...

Kakamega County Kakamega County is a county in the former Western Province of Kenya. It borders Vihiga County to the South, Siaya County to the West, Bungoma and Trans Nzoia counties to the North and Nandi, and Uasin Gishu counties to the East. Its capita ...

, facilitated by Cosmos Education. She subsequently became a volunteer for the organisation, and later went on to work with 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 ...

's Global Hands-on Universe programme.

Travelling Telescope

In 2013, Murabana met her future husband, Daniel "Chu" Owen, at the November 2013 solar eclipse at

Lake Turkana Lake Turkana () is a saline lake in the Kenyan Rift Valley, in northern Kenya, with its far northern end crossing into Ethiopia. It is the world's largest permanent desert lake and the world's largest alkaline lake. By volume it is the world ...

in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Owen had previously established Travelling Telescope, in which he had travelled around his home country, the United Kingdom, allowing the public to look at space through his telescope. In 2014 and 2015, Travelling Telescope was relaunched in Kenya as a social enterprise aiming to educate poor and remote communities about science and astronomy. The organisation raises money by holding private events, such as the annual Shooting Star Safari in Samburu County during the Perseids meteor shower, as well as providing astronomy services to private schools and safari lodges. The money is subsequently used to provide free outreach work to state schools and remote communities throughout Kenya. Travelling Telescope's outreach work includes using Sky-Watcher Flextubes to allow people to see

planet A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...

s including

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...

and

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...

; the Orion and

Trifid Trifid is Latin for "split into three parts" or "threefold" and may refer to: * ''Trifid'' (journal), a Czech-language periodical *Trifid Nebula in the constellation Sagittarius * Trifid cipher, a fractionated cipher Distinguish from *Triffid, a ...

nebula A nebula (; or nebulas) is a distinct luminescent part of interstellar medium, which can consist of ionized, neutral, or molecular hydrogen and also cosmic dust. Nebulae are often star-forming regions, such as in the Pillars of Creation in ...

e; and the Pinwheel and Andromeda

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar Sys ...

. The organisation has an inflatable

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

, and in 2020 established the Nairobi Planetarium, East Africa's first permanent planetarium, constructed out of bamboo. Murabana has also run space camps in Nairobi. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, Travelling Telescope received funding from the Airbus Foundation to establish online classes in astronomy, rocketry and robotics for African schoolchildren.

Other work

Murabana has served as a national advisor for Kenya at

Universe Awareness Universe Awareness or (UNAWE) is an international programme that aim to expose very young children in under-privileged environments to astronomy. History Inception In 2004, Leiden University professor George K. Miley first began exploring the id ...

; the African representative on the International Planetarium Association; and as a board member for World Space Week. She is also the president of the African Planetarium Association, which aims to establish more permanent planetariums around the continent. In 2021, Murabana was named as a Space4Women mentor, as part of the United Nations' women in STEM programming.

Recognition

In 2020, Murabana and Travelling Telescope was awarded the Europlanet Award for Science Engagement. Her work has been featured in

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

Deutsche Welle (; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...

and ''

the Christian Science Monitor ''The Christian Science Monitor'' (''CSM''), commonly known as ''The Monitor'', is a nonprofit news organization that publishes daily articles both in Electronic publishing, electronic format and a weekly print edition. It was founded in 1908 ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murabana, Susan Living people Scientists from Nairobi 21st-century Kenyan women scientists Women astronomers Catholic University of Eastern Africa alumni James Cook University alumni 21st-century astronomers Year of birth missing (living people)