astronomy

Margaret Murray Hanson

Margaret Murray Hanson is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Margaret Murray Hanson rather than just read about it. In short: Margaret M. Hanson (née Murray) is an American astronomer and academic at the University of Cincinnati where she is Associate Dean for Natural Sciences.

Key takeaways

Margaret Murray Hanson belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Margaret Murray Hanson to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Margaret Murray Hanson from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Margaret M. Hanson (née Murray) is an American astronomer and academic at the University of Cincinnati where she is Associate Dean for Natural Sciences. She has been serving as an academic administrator since 2011, most recently as the Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Career Hanson started her professional astronomy career as a Hubble Postdoctoral Fellow in late 1995 at the University of Arizona, working with George H. Rieke and Marcia Rieke. She became an assistant professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Cincinnati in 1998, was tenured and promoted to associate professor in 2003 and became full professor in 2009. From 2005 to 2012, she served as Associate Editor-in-Chief for The Astronomical Journal, the oldest professional journal in astronomy in the United States. She was twice elected for a leadership position in the American Astronomical Society. In 2011, she moved to the Graduate School to serve as Associate University Dean at the University of Cincinnati. In 2016, she returned to the College of Arts & Sciences as the Associate Dean, then Divisional Dean for Natural Sciences. In 2021, she became Interim Dean for the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati. In 2020, she co-chaired the Panel on State of the Profession and Societal Impacts, as part of the National Academies decadal survey Astro2020. This same year she was named a Legacy (inaugural) Fellow of the American Astronomical Society.

Research Hanson's research interest is in observational (experimental) astronomy. Over her astronomy career, this has included observing and publishing research at ultraviolet, optical, infrared, millimeter and centimeter wavelengths, where she has studied extragalactic, galactic, interstellar and stellar phenomenon. Her most recent research used infrared spectroscopy of hot, massive stars to accurately characterize the atmosphere of these unique stars and to search for massive stellar clusters found deeply embedded within the Milky Way Galaxy. In late 2024, her publications had an h-index of 36.

Awards and honors 1995: Hubble Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (Steward Observatory) University of Arizona 2001: National Science Foundation CAREER Awardee 2002: Edith C. Alexander Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Cincinnati 2003: Science & Technology Award, Leading Women of Cincinnati 2010: Young Investigator Award, Sigma Xi 2011: Elected Fellow, Royal Astronomical Society 2020: Elected (Legacy) Fellow, American Astronomical Society

Select publications Dickey, J. M., Hanson, M. M., & Helou, G. (1990). NGC 1058-Gas motions in an extended, quiescent spiral disk. Astrophysical Journal, 352, 522–531. Hanson, M. M., Conti, P. S., & Rieke, M. J. (1996). A spectral atlas of hot, luminous stars at 2 microns. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 107, 281. Hanson, M. M., Howarth, I. D., & Conti, P. S. (1997). The young massive stellar objects of M17. The Astrophysical Journal, 489(2), 698. Hanson, M. M. (2003). A Study of Cygnus OB2: Pointing the Way toward Finding Our Galaxy's Super-Star Clusters. The Astrophysical Journal, 597(2), 957. Hanson, M. M., Kudritzki, R. P., Kenworthy, M. A., Puls, J., & Tokunaga, A. T. (2005). A medium resolution near-infrared spectral atlas of O and early-B stars. The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, 161(1), 154. Najarro, F., Hanson, M.M., Puls, J. (2011) L-band Spectroscopy of Galactic OB-Stars, Astronomy & Astrophysics 535, A32 Popescu, B., Hanson, M.M., Elmegreen, B.G. (2012) Age and Mass for 920 LMC Clusters Derived from 100 Million Monte Carlo Simulations, The Astrophysical Journal 751 (2), 122.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Margaret Murray Hanson

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Margaret Murray Hanson claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Margaret Murray Hanson before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Margaret Murray Hanson ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Margaret Murray Hanson

In research: Margaret Murray Hanson appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Margaret Murray Hanson in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Margaret Murray Hanson is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics American women astronomers, Living people, University of Arizona alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Margaret Murray Hanson outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Margaret Murray Hanson in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Margaret Murray Hanson means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Margaret Murray Hanson out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Margaret Murray Hanson in simple terms?

Margaret M. Hanson (née Murray) is an American astronomer and academic at the University of Cincinnati where she is Associate Dean for Natural Sciences.

Why does Margaret Murray Hanson matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Margaret Murray Hanson?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Margaret Murray Hanson.