Ruth Grützbauch (born 3 October 1978) is an Austrian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

planetarium A planetarium (: planetariums or planetaria) is a theatre built primarily for presenting educational and entertaining shows about astronomy and the night sky, or for training in celestial navigation. A dominant feature of most planetariums is ...

director and

science communicator Science communication encompasses a wide range of activities that connect science and society. Common goals of science communication include informing non-experts about scientific findings, raising the public awareness of and interest in sci ...

. After earning her doctoral degree in 2007, she conducted extragalactic research until 2013, and worked as an educator and science communicator afterwards. Since 2017, she runs the ''Public Space'' pop-up planetarium.

Biography

Grützbauch was born as the youngest of six children in the Viennese district of

Währing Währing () is the 18th Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna and lies in northwestern Vienna on the edge of the Vienna Woods. It was formed in 1892 from the unification of the older suburbs of Währing, Weinhaus, Gersthof, Pötzleinsdorf, Neus ...

and completed her

Matura or its translated terms (''mature'', ''matur'', , , , , ', ) is a Latin name for the secondary school exit exam or "maturity diploma" in various European countries, including Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech ...

at a school in

Simmering Simmering is a food preparation technique by which foods are cooked in hot liquids kept just below the boiling point of water (lower than ) and above poaching temperature (higher than ). To create a steady simmer, a liquid is brought to a boil, ...

. In 1996, she began to study astronomy at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...

and obtained her

diplom A ''Diplom'' (, from ) is an academic degree in the German-speaking countries Germany, Austria, and Switzerland and a similarly named degree in some other European countries including Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia ...

a in 2003. During her subsequent doctorate, she gained international experience at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

in England, the Padua Observatory in Italy, and the

La Silla Observatory La Silla Observatory is an astronomical observatory in Chile with three telescopes built and operated by the European Southern Observatory (ESO). Several other telescopes are also located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observato ...

in Chile. In 2007, she was awarded the academic degree

Dr. rer. nat. for, la, Doctor rerum naturalium, Doctor of Natural Sciences, paren=left, ), abbreviated Dr. rer. nat., is a doctoral academic degree awarded by universities in some European countries (e.g. Germany, Austria and Czech Republic) to graduates in phy ...

after completing her dissertation on

dwarf galaxies A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is so ...

. As a

postdoc A postdoctoral fellow, postdoctoral researcher, or simply postdoc, is a person professionally conducting research after the completion of their doctoral studies (typically a PhD). Postdocs most commonly, but not always, have a temporary academ ...

, Grützbauch did extragalactic research at the

and the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; ) is a public university, public research university in Lisbon, and Portugal's largest university. It was founded in 1911, but the university's present structure dates to the 2013 merger of the former Universit ...

, and observed at the

United Kingdom Infrared Telescope The United Kingdom Infra-Red Telescope (UKIRT) is a 3.8 metre (150 inch) infrared reflecting telescope, the second largest dedicated infrared (1 to 30 micrometres) telescope in the world. It is located on Mauna Kea, Hawai'i as part of Mauna ...

in Hawaii. Her

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

is at least 26. In 2013, Grützbauch ended her academic career and became an environmental educator. From 2015 to 2017, she worked as a science communicator at the Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre. Public Space Pop-up Planetarium

Grützbauch has been known to a broader public since 2017 through her

, ''Public Space''. The inflatable planetarium does not have a fixed location, but is transported by Grützbauch with a

cargo bike There have been many human powered vehicles designed and constructed specifically for transporting loads since their earliest appearance in the history of the bicycle, 20th century. They are referred to variously depending on the number of wheel ...

from her home in Vienna to schools and other event locations. Since 2020, Grützbauch hosts the astronomy

podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...

''Das Universum'' () together with celestial mechanic . She publishes a different podcast series on the night sky together with . In 2021, she published ''Per Lastenrad durch die Galaxis'' (), a popular science book on extragalactic astronomy and her planetarium. Grützbauch is part of the , a science

kabarett Kabarett (; from French ''cabaret'' = tavern) is satirical revue, a form of cabaret which was developed in France by Rodolphe Salis in 1881 as the ''cabaret artistique''. It was named Le Chat Noir and was centered on political events and satire. ...

group founded by

Heinz Oberhummer Heinz Oberhummer was an Austrian physicist and skeptic. Biography Heinz Oberhummer was born in Bischofshofen and grew up in Obertauern, Austria. He studied physics at the University of Graz and the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. He l ...

, and

Werner Gruber Werner Gruber (born 15 March 1970) is an Austrian physicist, author, lecturer, and cabaret artist and is well known from ORF and as a member of the Social Democratic Party of Austria (SPÖ). Biography Gruber was born in Ostermiething. Grube ...

. She had worked in their prop department since 2018 and made her stage debut in 2021.

Works

* * *

References

Studio 2 ''Studio 2'' was a daily (weeknights) current affairs newsmagazine on TVOntario in Ontario, Canada. The show won several Gemini Awards, and was hosted by Steve Paikin and Paula Todd (who replaced original co-host Mary Hynes in the show's third ...

Das aufblasbare Planetarium
'. 11 October 2021 broadcast. ORF 2

Barbara Schöneberger Barbara von Schierstädt (, ; born 5 March 1974) is a German television presenter, entertainer, actress and singer. Early life Schöneberger is the only child of clarinet player Hans Schöneberger and his wife Annemarie. She studied sociology, ...

, Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt: ''NDR Talk Show
Astronomin und Autorin Ruth Grützbauch
'. 15 October 2021 broadcast.

Norddeutscher Rundfunk (; "North German Broadcasting"), commonly shortened to NDR (), is a public broadcasting, public radio and television broadcaster, based in Hamburg. In addition to the city-state of Hamburg, NDR broadcasts for the German states of Lower Saxony, ...

Barbara Stöckl: ''Stöckl''
28 October 2021 broadcast
ORF 2/

3sat 3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...

Wolfgang Heim: ''Leute''.
Astronomin und Galaxien-Forscherin Ruth Grützbauch
'. 17 November 2021 broadcast. SWR1 Anna Muhr: ''#Vienna
Ein Planetarium zum Mitnehmen
'. 25 January 2021 broadcast. Radio NJOY 91.3 Frank Meyer: ''Lesart''

Deutschlandfunk Kultur Deutschlandfunk Kultur (; abbreviated to ''DLF Kultur'' or ''DKultur'') is a culture-oriented radio station and part of Deutschlandradio, a set of three national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station ...

Nicole Aigner: ''Mahlzeit Burgenland
Ruth Grützbauch ( Astronomin) zu Gast bei Nicole Aigner
'. 24 November 2021 broadcast.

Radio Burgenland Radio Burgenland is the regional radio for Burgenland Burgenland (; ; ; Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland''; Slovene language, Slovene: ''Gradiščanska''; ) is the easternmost and least populous Bundesland (Austria), state of Aust ...

External links

Public Space, the pop-up planetarium

Das Universum
(Podcast, co-hosted with )
WRINT Wissenschaft
(Podcast, co-hosted with )

at the University of Vienna {{DEFAULTSORT:Grutzbauch, Ruth Living people 1978 births 21st-century Austrian astronomers University of Vienna alumni Academics of the University of Nottingham Science communicators Women podcasters Austrian non-fiction writers 21st-century non-fiction writers 21st-century Austrian women writers 21st-century Austrian writers