Ene Ergma (born 29 February 1944, in

Rakvere Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the administrative centre of the Lääne-Viru ''maakond'' (county), 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. Rakvere is the 8th most populous urban area in Estonia. Rakvere has a tota ...

) is an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, a member of the

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Jus ...

(Estonian parliament), and

scientist A scientist is a person who conducts Scientific method, scientific research to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, ...

. She was a member of the political party

Union of Pro Patria and Res Publica Isamaa is a Christian-democratic and national-conservative political party in Estonia. It was founded on 4 June 2006 under the name of "Pro Patria and Res Publica Union", by the merger of two conservative parties, Pro Patria Union and Res Publi ...

and, before the two parties merged, a member of

Res Publica Party Res Publica Party ( et, Erakond Res Publica) was a political party in Estonia that self-identified as conservative. Established as a party on 8 December 2001, the political organisation Res Publica was founded already as early as 1989 and exist ...

. On 1 June 2016, Ergma announced her resignation from the party, because the party had lost its identity and turned populist.

Education and scientific career

Ergma received her Diploma ''cum laude'' (BSc/MSc equivalent) in astronomy and PhD in physics and mathematics from Lomonosov

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, and a DSc degree from Institute of Space Research, Moscow. Before entering politics she worked as a professor of

Astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

(since 1988). In 1994, she was elected to the

Estonian Academy of Sciences Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences ( et, Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn. As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to ...

. Most of her scientific research has been done on the evolution of the compact objects (such as

white dwarfs A white dwarf is a stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very dense: its mass is comparable to the Sun's, while its volume is comparable to the Earth's. A white dwarf's faint luminosity comes fro ...

and

neutron stars A neutron star is the collapsed core of a massive supergiant star, which had a total mass of between 10 and 25 solar masses, possibly more if the star was especially metal-rich. Except for black holes and some hypothetical objects (e.g. white ...

) and also

gamma ray burst In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...

Political career

From March 2003 until March 2006, Ergma was Speaker of the Riigikogu. From March 2006 to April 2007, she was the second Vice-President of the Riigikogu. On 2 April 2007 she was re-elected as Speaker of the Riigikogu and kept the post until March 2014. Ergma was the only candidate in the first round of the 2006 presidential election in the

on 28 August 2006. She gathered 65 votes, 3 votes less than the at least 2/3 of the Riigikogu votes necessary for the election. She also ran along Volli Kalm and Birute Klaas for the presidency of University of Tartu, but was not elected. She is the chairwoman of the Space Research Committee of the Riigikogu.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ergma, Ene 1944 births Living people People from Rakvere Res Publica Party politicians Isamaa politicians Members of the Riigikogu, 2003–2007 Members of the Riigikogu, 2007–2011 Members of the Riigikogu, 2011–2015 Speakers of the Riigikogu 20th-century Estonian physicists Members of the Estonian Academy of Sciences Moscow State University alumni Recipients of the Order of the National Coat of Arms, 2nd Class 21st-century Estonian politicians 21st-century Estonian women politicians 20th-century women scientists 21st-century Estonian physicists 21st-century women scientists Estonian women physicists Estonian women scientists Women members of the Riigikogu Recipients of the Order of the White Star, 4th Class

Education and scientific career

Political career

See also

References