Amina Helmi

Amina Helmi
Amina Helmi in 2019
Born (1970-09-06) 6 September 1970 (age 56)
Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina
EducationLeiden University (PhD)
Known forHelmi stream
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsAstronomy
WorkplacesUniversity of Groningen
University of La Plata
Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics
Utrecht University
ThesisThe formation of the Galactic Halo (2000)
Tim de Zeeuw
Simon White
Websitewww.astro.rug.nl/~ahelmi/ Edit this at Wikidata

Amina Helmi (6 October 1970) is an Argentine astronomer and professor at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Education

Helmi was graduated in astronomy from the National University of La Plata. She was educated at Leiden University where she was awarded a PhD in 2000 with a thesis on the formation of the galactic halo, supervised by Tim de Zeeuw and Simon White.

Career and research

Since 2003 Helmi has been faculty member at the University of Groningen, and has been a full professor since 2014. Previously, she held postdoctoral positions at the University of La Plata in Argentina, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, and Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Her research focuses investigates the evolution and dynamics of galaxies, in particular the Milky Way, using locations, velocities, ages, and chemical abundances of stars to understand the formation process of galaxies, known as galactic archaeology. She also studies the nature of dark matter. In her research, Helmi uses computer simulations as well as observational data from for example the Gaia space telescope.

Awards and honors

In 2019, Helmi was named one of the four winners of the Spinoza Prize. She was awarded membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.

She was awarded the Christiaan Huygensprize in 2004 and the Pastoor Schmeitsprize in 2010.

The Helmi stream is named after her and she was awarded the Suffrage Science award in 2019.

In 2021, Helmi won the Brouwer Award from the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society.

In 2026, she was awarded the Kavli Prize in the category of "Astrophysics".

References

  1. ↑ "De Jonge Akademie – Amina Helmi". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 15 September 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  2. 1 2 "Gaia people – Amina Helmi". esa.int. European Space Agency. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  3. ↑ van Hal, George (21 June 2019). "'Archeoloog van de sterren' Amina Helmi krijgt de Spinozapremie, de hoogste wetenschappelijke eer van Nederland". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 22 June 2019.
  4. 1 2 Amina Helmi publications indexed by Google Scholar Edit this at Wikidata
  5. 1 2 Skibba, Ramin (10 June 2021). "A galactic archaeologist digs into the Milky Way's history". Knowable Magazine. doi:10.1146/knowable-060921-1. S2CID 236290725. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  6. ↑ "Amina Helmi, egresada de la UNLP, recibió el "Nobel de Astrofísica"" (in Spanish). Universidad Nacional de La Plata. 2026-09-02. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  7. ↑ Helmi, Amina (2000). The formation of the Galactic Halo (PDF). rug.nl (PhD thesis). Leiden University. OCLC 495524256.
  8. ↑ Helmi, Amina (18 August 2020). "Streams, Substructures, and the Early History of the Milky Way". Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics. 58 (1): 205–256. arXiv:2002.04340. Bibcode:2020ARA&A..58..205H. doi:10.1146/annurev-astro-032620-021917. ISSN 0066-4146. S2CID 211076105.
  9. ↑ Brown, A. G. A.; Vallenari, A.; Prusti, T.; de Bruijne, J. H. J.; Babusiaux, C.; Bailer-Jones, C. A. L.; Biermann, M.; Evans, D. W.; Eyer, L.; Jansen, F.; Jordi, C.; et al. (2018). "Gaia Data Release 2". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 616: A1. arXiv:1804.09365. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201833051. hdl:2445/140475. ISSN 0004-6361. S2CID 49211658.
  10. ↑ "Prof. dr. Amina Helmi". University of Groningen. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  11. ↑ "NWO Spinoza Prize 2019". Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research. 21 June 2019. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020.
  12. ↑ Amina Helmi, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, archived from the original on 2020-08-11, retrieved 2019-01-05
  13. ↑ "Laureaten Christiaan Huygens Wetenschapsprijs" (in Dutch). Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on 14 September 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  14. ↑ "Amina Helmi and Joop Schaye win Pastoor Schmeits Prize for astronomy". University of Groningen. 17 May 2010. Retrieved 9 December 2018.
  15. ↑ Kavli Prize 2026