Ellen Gould Zweibel (born 20 December 1952,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

) is an American astrophysicist and plasma physicist. In 1973, Zweibel received her bachelor's degree in mathematics from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

and in 1977 her Ph.D. in physics from Princeton with thesis ''The Equilibrium and Radial Oscillations of Cool Stellar Disks'' under the supervision of

Jeremiah P. Ostriker Jeremiah Paul "Jerry" Ostriker (born April 13, 1937) is an American astrophysicist and a professor of astronomy at Columbia University and is the Charles A. Young Professor ''Emeritus'' at Princeton where he also continues as a senior research s ...

. She was a visiting scholar at the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), located in Princeton, New Jersey, in the United States, is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholar ...

for the academic year 1977–1978 and then joined the solar physics group of the High Altitude Observatory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research. In addition, she was from 1980 to 2003 a professor at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

. She is now the William L. Kraushaar Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

. Zweibel is a founding member and former director of the Center of Magnetic Self-Organization of the National Science Foundation (NSF) and of the Department of Energy (DOE).

Recognition

In 1991, she was elected a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of k ...

. In 2016, she received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "seminal research on the energetics, stability, and dynamics of astrophysical plasmas, including those related to stars and galaxies, and for leadership in linking plasma and other astrophysical phenomena". She investigates astrophysical phenomena and plasmas physics of the sun, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. She was elected to the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2021.

References

External links

Homepage, University of Wisconsin–Madison
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zweibel, Ellen Gould University of Chicago alumni Princeton University alumni University of Colorado faculty University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences 1952 births Living people American astrophysicists Women astrophysicists American plasma physicists 20th-century American physicists 20th-century American women scientists 21st-century American physicists 21st-century American women scientists American women academics