Chryssa Kouveliotou is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

astrophysicist. She is a professor at

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

and a retired senior technologist in high-energy astrophysics at NASA's

Marshall Space Flight Center The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), located in Redstone Arsenal, Alabama (Huntsville postal address), is the U.S. government's civilian rocketry and spacecraft propulsion research center. As the largest NASA center, MSFC's first ...

in Huntsville, Alabama.

Early life and education

Kouveliotou received her bachelor's degree in physics from the

National & Kapodistrian University of Athens The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA; el, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών, ''Ethnikó ke Kapodistriakó Panepistímio Athinón''), usually referred to simply as the Univers ...

, Greece, in 1975, and earned her master's degree in science from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, England, in 1977. She received her doctorate in astrophysics in 1981 from the

Technical University of Munich The Technical University of Munich (TUM or TU Munich; german: Technische Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It specializes in engineering, technology, medicine, and applied and natural sciences. Establis ...

, Germany, under the supervision of Klaus Pinkau. She was a faculty at the Dept. of Physics of the

before pursuing research work in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Career

Kouveliotou joined NASA

in 1991, initially supporting the Gamma Ray Astrophysics Team. Her numerous contributions to the fields of astronomy and astrophysics have expanded scientific understanding of fleeting, transient phenomena in the Milky Way galaxy and throughout the universe. Besides determining the unique properties of the highly energetic emissions from gamma-ray bursts – the brightest and most powerful cosmic events ever documented – Kouveliotou was part of the team which in 1997 revealed the extragalactic nature of these sources. In 1998, she and her team also made the first confirmed detection of ultra-dense neutron stars called

magnetar A magnetar is a type of neutron star with an extremely powerful magnetic field (∼109 to 1011 T, ∼1013 to 1015 G). The magnetic-field decay powers the emission of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, particularly X-rays and gamma rays.War ...

s – the cinders of stars left over after a supernova. In 2015 she moved as a Professor of Physics at

. She is currently the Chair of the Physics Department at GWU.

Awards

In 2012 she received the

Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics The Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics is jointly awarded each year by the American Astronomical Society and American Institute of Physics for outstanding work in astrophysics. It is funded by the Heineman Foundation in honour of Dannie Heinem ...

as well as NASA Exceptional Service Medal, NASA's highest form of recognition awarded to a Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA's advancement of United States' interests; the same year she was named one of Time Magazine's 25 most influential people in space. In 2005, she received the NASA Space Act Award, which recognizes and rewards outstanding scientific or technical contributions significant to NASA's mission. In 2003, she shared the

Bruno Rossi Prize The Bruno Rossi Prize is awarded annually by the High Energy Astrophysics division of the American Astronomical Society "for a significant contribution to High Energy Astrophysics, with particular emphasis on recent, original work". Named after as ...

for her work on

s, which awarded annually by the High Energy Astrophysics division of the American Astronomical Society. In 2002, she was the sole American representative on the international team which received the

Descartes Prize The Descartes Prize was an annual award in science given by the European Union, named in honour of the French mathematician and philosopher, René Descartes. The prizes recognized Outstanding Scientific and Technological Achievements Resulting f ...

in Astrophysics, which recognizes scientific breakthroughs from European collaborative research in any scientific field. In 2013 she was elected as a member of the US National Academy of Sciences and in 2016 at the US Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences ( nl, Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen, abbreviated: KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed ...

in 2015 as well as a foreign member of the Academy of Athens (Greece) in 2016. In 2021 she was awarded the

Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is an annual award presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours "individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have recently achieved distinguished and signifi ...

(jointly with Victoria M. Kaspi). In 2015 she received by the Greek Government the award of Commander of the Order of the Honor, for excellence in science. She was elected a Legacy 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 ...

in 2020. In 2022, she was elected member of the Scientific Council of the ERC.

Personal life

Kouveliotou was married to fellow astrophysicist

Jan van Paradijs Johannes A. van Paradijs (9 June 1946 – 2 November 1999) was a Dutch high-energy astrophysicist. He is best known for discovering the first optical afterglow of a gamma-ray burst, GRB 970228, in February 1997, together with two of his students ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kouveliotou, Chryssa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Sussex American astrophysicists Winners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Academic staff of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens George Washington University faculty Greek emigrants to the United States NASA astrophysicists Columbian College of Arts and Sciences faculty Fellows of the American Astronomical Society Corresponding Members of the Academy of Athens (modern) Scientists from Athens