ASLI Weekly Meeting

Seven Women who Changed Astronomy – by Steve Bellavia

Even today, less than 20 percent of people in astronomy and physics are female. And in the past, there were even fewer women in that field. From the beginning of modern astronomy, until now, countless number of women have made significant, field-changing discoveries and contributions.  But given the constraint of time, seven women are highlighted, who made impactful changes to our understanding of the universe.

Steven Bellavia is an amateur astronomer and telescope maker.  He is an aerospace engineer who worked for Grumman Aerospace with the Thermodynamics Group of the Space Division. He had a key role in developing a nuclear rocket engine, and performed the analysis, design and fabrication of the micro-gravity liquid droplet radiator that flew on Space Shuttle mission STS-029.

Steve has been at Brookhaven National Laboratory since 1992 and was the principal mechanical engineer for the camera on the Vera Rubin (formerly called the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, LSST).  Prior to that, he was doing research and engineering for the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and the NASA Space Radiation Laboratory.

Steve is an assistant adjunct professor of astronomy and physics at Suffolk County Community College and the Astronomy Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Custer Institute and Observatory in Southold, New York