Neta A. Bahcall is an astrophysicist and cosmologist specializing in dark matter, the structure of the universe, quasars, and the formation of galaxies.
Education
Bahcall received a Bachelor of Surgery in physics and mathematics at Hebrew University in Israel in 1963. In 1965, she received her Master"s in physics at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. In 1970, Bahcall received her Doctor of Philosophy in astrophysics at the University of Tel Aviv in Israel.
Career
She is the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy at Princeton University. From 1970 to 1971, Bahcall was a research fellow in physics at the California Institute of Technology. Between 1971 and 1983, she was a research assistant to a senior research astrophysicist.
She was also the director of the Council on Science and Technology of Princeton from 2000 to 2008.
Through the use of the Hubble Space Telescope she has been able to map the location and structure of various galaxies. One of her most important contributions to the field of astrophysics was her calculations of the mass of the universe.
She has been a lecturer for numerous organizations including the Nobel Symposium in Stockholm in 1998. Bahcall received an honorary doctorate from Ohio State University in 2006.
All three of Bahcall"s children have earned doctorates in the sciences.
Membership
In 1997, Bahcall was elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Bahcall has been a longtime member of and vice president of the American Astronomical Society from 1995 to 1998. Bahcall has also been a member of: the National Astronomy and Astrophysics Advisory Committee (2003–present), the Space Telescope Institute Council (1993-1997), the United States. National Committee to International Astronomical Union (1998-2004), the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (1990-1995), the American Institute of Physics Committee on International Relations (1990–1993), and was the chair of the Associate of Applied Science Committee on the Status of Women in Astronomy (1983).