Ruth Grützbauch (born 3 October 1978) is an Austrian

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...

, planetarium director and

science communicator Science communication is the practice of informing, educating, raising awareness of science-related topics, and increasing the sense of wonder about scientific discoveries and arguments. Science communicators and audiences are ambiguously def ...

. 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 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, Neustift am Walde and S ...

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, C ...

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 (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

and obtained her diploma in 2003. During her subsequent doctorate, she gained international experience at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

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 located at the site and are partly maintained by ESO. The observatory is ...

in Chile. In 2007, she was awarded the academic degree Dr. rer. nat. 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, Grützbauch did extragalactic research at the

and the

University of Lisbon The University of Lisbon (ULisboa; pt, Universidade de Lisboa, ) is a public research university in Lisbon, and the largest university in Portugal. It was founded in 2013, from the merger of two previous public universities located in Lisbon, th ...

, 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 obvious success indicators such as ...

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 planetarium, ''Public Space''. The inflatable planetarium does not have a fixed location, but is transported by Grützbauch with a cargo bike from her home in Vienna to schools and other event locations. Since 2020, Grützbauch hosts the astronomy

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosin ...

''Das Universum'' ( en, The Universe) 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'' ( en, The Cargo Cyclist's Guide to the Galaxy), 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 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. It ...

group founded by Heinz Oberhummer, and

Werner Gruber Werner Gruber (born 15 March 1970, in Ostermiething) 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 grew up in Ans ...

. 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, actress and singer. Early life Schöneberger is the only child of clarinet player Hans Schöneberger and his wife Annemarie. She studied sociology, art history and ...

Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt Hubertus Meyer-Burckhardt (born 24 July 1956 in Kassel) is a German author, television presenter and talkshow host. Life He studied history and philosophy in Munich, Berlin and Hamburg. Meyer-Burckhardt works as television journalist on Germa ...

: ''NDR Talk Show
Astronomin und Autorin Ruth Grützbauch
'. 15 October 2021 broadcast. Norddeutscher Rundfunk Barbara Stöckl: ''Stöckl''
28 October 2021 broadcast
ORF 2/

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies ...

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 national radio stations in Germany. Initially named ''DeutschlandRadio Berlin'', the station was re ...

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 (; hu, Őrvidék; hr, Gradišće; Austro-Bavarian: ''Burgnland;'' Slovene: ''Gradiščanska'') is the easternmost and least populous state of Austria. It consists of two sta ...

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