Name: Dr Graziella Branduardi-Raymont
Job title: Reader in Astronomy
What education and qualifications do you have?
Physics degree from the University of Milan, Italy
Ph. D. in X-ray Astronomy from UCL
Give an outline of your career so far
In 1973 I obtained a degree in Physics at the University of Milan, Italy
(I was born in Milan). My thesis research centred on the calibrations of a
gamma-ray telescope which was used on a balloon flight. In 1974 I started
postgraduate studies at University College London (UCL), doing research at
the Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) while holding a studentship of
the European Space Agency (ESA). I obtained a Ph. D. in X-ray Astronomy in
1977. Subsequently I spent two years at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for
Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass., USA, as a Research Physicist, continuing
to work in X-ray astronomy. I returned to the U.K. in 1979 to take up a
Research Assistant post at MSSL, and I expanded my interests to
ultraviolet, optical and radio astronomy, thus entering the world of
'multi-wavelength astrophysics'. For about a year, in between contracts, I
was employed as a scientific programmer and worked also on modelling radar
altimetry returns for Earth observations from space. I became a lecturer
at UCL in 1987, and a Reader in Astronomy in 1992. My teaching, to UCL
undergraduate and postgraduate students, covers topics such as 'High
Energy Astrophysics', 'Foundations of Astronomy', 'Space Exploration',
'Space Science, Instrumentation and Techniques' and 'Project Organisation
and Management'.
For about 10 years during the 1990s I led a team of ~10 engineers and
scientists at MSSL who developed the on-board digital electronics and
on-board software for the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS), one of
the instruments flying on the ESA X-ray Multi-Mirror (XMM-Newton) mission,
launched in December 1999. My role was that of Project Manager, with the
responsibility of getting our hardware and software developed, tested and
delivered 'on schedule, on budget and according to specifications'; these
aims were all achieved, thanks to the joint efforts of our very dedicated
team. I now continue to pursue research in multi-wavelength astrophysics.
My main interest lies in extragalactic astronomy, which encompasses some
of the most energetic, violent and exotic objects in the universe, such as
active galaxies and quasars. In the last few years I have taken an interest
in planetary topics, and used XMM-Newton to study the X-ray emission of
Jupiter and Saturn, in particular that due to the planets' aurorae.
Why did you choose this career path?
I have been fascinated by astronomy and space research since I was a
teenager, so I decided to build my career around these interests. I also
like to be a bit different from the rest of the crowd, and this career
(especially when I started in the 1970s) was still rather unusual for a
woman, so it attracted me even more!
What does your current work involve?
Exploiting the data returned by XMM-Newton is my main activity at MSSL:
this involves analysing and trying to interpret the data (in collaboration
with the astrophysics team at MSSL and with scientists elsewhere in the UK
and oversea), writing scientific papers on the results, and giving talks
at scientific conferences. Recently I have entered into a new adventure,
and got involved (together with colleagues at the Lab.) in a future ESA
mission, called LISA, aimed at detecting gravitational waves: they are the
elusive by-products, predicted by Einstein, of mighty and exotic accidents
like neutron star and black hole collisions and mergers!
Part of my job is also to supervise postgraduate students in their Ph.
D. research and undergraduates in smaller research projects; I lecture
undergraduates and postgraduate students at the UCL main campus in London;
I contribute to the public appreciation of science by talking occasionally
to amateur astronomer societies and young scientists conferences. A few
years back I was co-organiser of an annual conference at UCL for
sixth-form girls, to encourage them to take up Physics at university. This
was a very successful and rewarding experience, and in general in these
last few years we have seen a larger number of girls studying scientific
subjects at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.
Hobbies and interests outside work
One of my interests outside work is travelling, mainly on holiday, around
the Mediterranean and in the Far East: in fact, one interesting aspect of my
work is that it has taken me to a variety of places, from astronomical
observatories (in the Canary Islands, the USA, South Africa and
Australia), to ground tests and control centres of satellites (in Europe
and the USA), to satellite launch sites (in the USA and South America) and
to various conference locations (in Europe, the USA, the Far East). I also
enjoy gardening, walking, swimming (in warm seas), skiing (not forgetting good
food and wine, as appropriate to an Italian!).
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