Conny Clara Aerts, born 26 January 1966, is a Belgian (Flemish) professor in astrophysics. She specialises in

asteroseismology Asteroseismology or astroseismology is the study of oscillations in stars. Stars have many resonant modes and frequencies, and the path of sound waves passing through a star depends on the speed of sound, which in turn depends on local temperature ...

. She is associated with

KU Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...

and

Radboud University Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century D ...

, where she leads the Chair in the Astroseismology group. In 2012, she became the first woman to be awarded the

Francqui Prize The Francqui Prize is a prestigious Belgian scholarly and scientific prize named after Émile Francqui. Normally annually since 1933, the Francqui Foundation awards it in recognition of the achievements of a scholar or scientist, who at the start ...

in the category of Science & Technology. In 2022, she became the third woman to be awarded the

Kavli Prize The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation. It honors, supports, and recognizes scientists for outstan ...

in Astrophysics for her work in

Biography

Aerts was born in

Brasschaat Brasschaat () is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of Antwerp. The municipality only comprises the town of Brasschaat proper. In November 2006, Brasschaat won the LivCom-Award 200 ...

, Belgium. She received her Bachelor and Master in Mathematics from the

University of Antwerp The University of Antwerp ( nl, Universiteit Antwerpen) is a major Belgian university located in the city of Antwerp. The official abbreviation is ''UA'', but ''UAntwerpen'' is more recently used. The University of Antwerp has about 20,000 stud ...

. She participated in the International Astronomical Youth Camp in 1987 and 1988. She then went on to complete her PhD in 1993 at

. After completing she spent several months doing research at the University of Delaware. She was a postdoctoral fellow with the Fund for Scientific Research from 1993 to 2001, when she was appointed lecturer at KU Leuven. She became first associate professor in 2004, and then full professor in 2007 at KU Leuven.

Research

In her research, she uses the star oscillations to determine the internal rotation profile of stars. The oscillations are obtained from both ground and space-based telescopes. In her PROSPERITY project, she used data obtained from the

CoRoT CoRoT (French: ; English: Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits) was a space telescope mission which operated from 2006 to 2013. The mission's two objectives were to search for extrasolar planets with short orbital periods, particularly th ...

satellite and the NASA

Kepler Johannes Kepler (; ; 27 December 1571 – 15 November 1630) was a German astronomer, mathematician, astrologer, natural philosopher and writer on music. He is a key figure in the 17th-century Scientific Revolution, best known for his laws o ...

satellite. She is currently the Belgian principal investigator on the

PLATO Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

mission, Aerts developed methodology using Gaussian mixture classification to analyse the data. She uses this to determine the star structure and inform stellar models within stellar evolution theory. With these techniques she has made a number of discoveries, including that of non-non-rigid rotation in giant stars. The theoretical models she develops based on the star oscillations also allow her determine the age of stars with a high accuracy. Aerts has twice been awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council (ERC): in 2008 for PROSPERITY, and again in 2015 for a project entitled MAMSIE (Mixing and Angular Momentum Transport of Massive Stars).

Outreach

Aerts is Vice-Dean of Communication & Outreach at the Faculty of Science at KU Leuven. She is outspoken about the need to increase gender equality in the sciences, and is a member of the International Astronomical Union Women in Astronomy Working Group.

Prizes and recognition

* In 2010 she was elected Honorary Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. * In 2011 she was elected Member of the Royal Flemish Academy for Sciences and Arts. * In 2012 she won the Francqui prize. * In 2016 she received the title of Commander of the Order of Leopold. * In 2017 she was awarded the Hintze Lecture at Oxford University, delivering also a public lecture entitled "Starquakes expose stellar heartbeats". * In 2018 she was awarded the ESA Lodewijk Woltjer Lecture for her work in the field of asteroseismology. * In 2019, asteroid 413033 Aerts was named in her honor. The official was published by the

Minor Planet Center The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Function ...

on 18 May 2019 (). * In 2020 she was awarded the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) Excellence Prize in Exact Sciences. * In 2022 she was awarded the

in Astrophysics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aerts, Conny 21st-century Belgian astronomers Women astronomers KU Leuven alumni Academic staff of KU Leuven Academic staff of Radboud University Nijmegen 1966 births Living people