Nadia Zakamska is a Russian-American

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 ...

who is a professor at

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

Early life and education

Zakamska graduated from

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

with a master's degree in theoretical physics in 2001. Zakamska then attended

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

for her PhD, which she received in 2005.

Career and research

Zakamska's research involves multi-wavelength work on Type II

quasar A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

s. She also studies

supermassive black hole A supermassive black hole (SMBH or sometimes SBH) is the largest type of black hole, with its mass being on the order of hundreds of thousands, or millions to billions, of times the mass of the Sun (). Black holes are a class of astronomical ...

s and their role in

galaxy formation In cosmology, the study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a Homogeneity and heterogeneity, heterogeneous universe from a Big Bang, homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way ga ...

. Her research group produced an important breakthrough in how cosmic gas falls into black holes and produces quasars. In addition, she studies extrasolar planets and

extragalactic astronomy Extragalactic astronomy is the branch of astronomy concerned with objects outside the Milky Way galaxy. In other words, it is the study of all astronomical objects which are not covered by galactic astronomy. The closest objects in extragalactic ...

Awards and honors

Zakamska is a Sloan Fellow. In 2014, she received the

American Astronomical Society The American Astronomical Society (AAS, sometimes spoken as "double-A-S") is an American society of professional astronomers and other interested individuals, headquartered in Washington, DC. The primary objective of the AAS is to promote the adv ...

's Newton Lacy Pierce Prize, which is awarded to recognize at least five years of outstanding achievement in observational astronomical research. Early in her career she was awarded a Spitzer Fellowship in 2005 to conduct research on

Quasars A quasar ( ) is an extremely Luminosity, luminous active galactic nucleus (AGN). It is sometimes known as a quasi-stellar object, abbreviated QSO. The emission from an AGN is powered by accretion onto a supermassive black hole with a mass rangi ...

at the

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

. From 2008 to 2010 she was a John Bahcall Fellow also at the

Publications

* * Zakamska, Nadia L.; Lampayan, Kelly; Petric, Andreea; Dicken, Daniel; Greene, Jenny E.; Heckman, Timothy M.; Hickox, Ryan C.; Ho, Luis C.; Krolik, Julian H. (2016-02-01).
Star formation in quasar hosts and the origin of radio emission in radio-quiet quasars
. ''Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society'' 455 (4): 4191–4211. doi:10.1093/mnras/stv2571.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...

0035-8711.

References

Russian women scientists Russian astronomers Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni Women astronomers Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Recipients of the Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy {{Astronomer-stub