Reshmi Mukherjee is an Indian-American astrophysicist known for her research on

gamma-ray astronomy Gamma-ray astronomy is the astronomical observation of gamma rays,Astronomical literature generally hyphenates "gamma-ray" when used as an adjective, but uses "gamma ray" without a hyphen for the noun. the most energetic form of electromagneti ...

and

blazar A blazar is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) with a relativistic jet (a jet composed of ionized matter traveling at nearly the speed of light) directed very nearly towards an observer. Relativistic beaming of electromagnetic radiation from the ...

s, involving work based on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, VERITAS, Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET), and

Cherenkov Telescope Array The Cherenkov Telescope Array or CTA is a multinational, worldwide project to build a new generation of ground-based gamma-ray instrument in the energy range extending from some tens of GeV to about 300 TeV. It is proposed as an open observatory a ...

collaborations. She is Helen Goodhart Altschul Professor of Physics & Astronomy at

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

Education and career

Mukherjee writes that she was inspired to go into physics by her father, who encouraged her in it despite his own lack of a college education. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in physics from Presidency College, at the time part of the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta (informally known as Calcutta University; CU) is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate State university (India), state university in India, located in Kolkata, West Bengal, India. Considered ...

, in 1986, and earned a master's degree there in 1989. She went to

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

for graduate study, under the supervision of Elena Aprile, and completed her Ph.D. in physics at Columbia in 1993. After postdoctoral research with the EGRET project at the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

, and a visiting position at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Universit ...

, she joined the Barnard faculty in 1997. Mukherjee's teaching includes introducing undergraduates to research by bringing them on visits to the ground-based observatories she works with and by including them in the analysis of data from the observatories. As a faculty member at Barnard, she also teaches physics at Columbia University.

Recognition

Mukherjee was named a

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of American Physic ...

(APS) in 2017, after a nomination from the APS Division of Astrophysics, "for advancing multifrequency strategies for the identification of gamma-ray sources and contributing significant leadership in blazar studies between the GeV and TeV gamma-ray bands".

References

External links

Home page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherjee, Reshmi Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American astrophysicists American women physicists American women astronomers Presidency University, Kolkata alumni Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Barnard College faculty Fellows of the American Physical Society 21st-century American women