Yolanda Gómez Castellanos (1962–2012) was a Mexican astronomer who studied

interstellar cloud An interstellar cloud is an accumulation of gas, plasma, and cosmic dust in galaxies. Put differently, an interstellar cloud is a denser-than-average region of the interstellar medium, the matter and radiation that exists in the space between ...

s including

planetary nebula A planetary nebula is a type of emission nebula consisting of an expanding, glowing shell of ionized gas ejected from red giant stars late in their lives. The term "planetary nebula" is a misnomer because they are unrelated to planets. The ...

e and compact

H II region An H II region is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionized. It is typically in a molecular cloud of partially ionized gas in which star formation has recently taken place, with a size ranging from one to hundreds of light year ...

s. She became known for the discovery of

water vapor Water vapor, water vapour, or aqueous vapor is the gaseous phase of Properties of water, water. It is one Phase (matter), state of water within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation or boiling of liquid water or from th ...

through emissions from

astrophysical maser An astrophysical maser is a naturally occurring source of Stimulated emission, stimulated spectral line emission, typically in the microwave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. This emission may arise in molecular clouds, comets, planetary at ...

s associated with

OH/IR star __notoc__ An OH/IR star is an asymptotic giant branch (AGB), a red supergiant (RSG), or a red hypergiant (RHG) star that shows strong OH maser emission and is unusually bright at near-infrared wavelengths. In the very late stages of AGB evoluti ...

s and planetary nebulae, evidence for the extremely recent formation of the associated nebula.

Life

Gómez was born in Mexico City, in 1962. She studied physics at the

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

(UNAM), earning a bachelor's degree in 1985 and completing her doctorate in 1990. After postdoctoral research at the

Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics The Center for Astrophysics , Harvard & Smithsonian (CfA), previously known as the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, is an astrophysics research institute jointly operated by the Harvard College Observatory and Smithsonian Astrophy ...

, she became a researcher at UNAM in 1993, first in the Institute of Astronomy and after 2001 as a founding member of the Center for Radio Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Morelia campus of UNAM. She died on 16 February 2012.

Recognition

Gómez was a member of the

Mexican Academy of Sciences The Mexican Academy of Sciences ''(Academia Mexicana de Ciencias)'' is a non-profit organization comprising over 1800 distinguished Mexico, Mexican scientists, attached to various institutions in the country, as well as a number of eminent forei ...

. In 2005, UNAM gave her the Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz Recognition. In 2008 the government of Michoacán gave her the State Prize for the Dissemination of Science and Technology.

Selected publications

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Yolanda Mexican astronomers Mexican women astronomers National Autonomous University of Mexico alumni Academic staff of the National Autonomous University of Mexico Members of the Mexican Academy of Sciences 1962 births 2012 deaths