astronomy

Marie Korsaga

Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga rather than just read about it. In short: Marie Korsaga (born 16 July 1984) is a Burkinabé astrophysicist working in the field of galactic astronomy and cosmology. She obtained her PhD in astrophysics and cosmology in 2019 after researching the distribution of matter inside nearby galaxies.

Key takeaways

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

Reference excerpt

Marie Korsaga (born 16 July 1984) is a Burkinabé astrophysicist working in the field of galactic astronomy and cosmology. She obtained her PhD in astrophysics and cosmology in 2019 after researching the distribution of matter inside nearby galaxies. She is the first female astrophysicist from Burkina Faso. She has worked in outreach aimed at increasing women's participation in science.

Early life and education Marie Korsaga was born on 16 July 1984 in Méguet, Burkina Faso. She was interested in astronomical phenomena in her childhood. However, due to astronomy's small presence in Burkina Faso, she initially aspired to become a civil engineer. She pursued her undergraduate education at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University. She earned her license in physics in 2009, and completed her maîtrise the following year. She obtained her master's degree in astrophysics in 2012, where she photometrically studied brown dwarfs in visible light. After her master's work, she interned at Aix-Marseille University's Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille (LAM) to study galaxy kinematics. She pursued her PhD education at Aix-Marseille University jointly with the University of Cape Town. Her PhD research investigated the distribution of baryonic matter and dark matter inside nearby galaxies. She completed her PhD in astrophysics and cosmology in 2019. She is the first woman from Burkina Faso and West Africa to hold a PhD in astrophysics.

Career She became a fellow at the International Astronomical Union's (IAU) Office of Astronomy for Development (OAD) in 2020. During her OAD fellowship, she was appointed to research the astronomical community's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. She worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía that year. By 2023, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Observatory of Strasbourg. By 2024, she became a fellow at the University of Oxford's astrophysics department as part of the Africa Oxford Initiative, with astrophysicist Martin Bureau as her mentor. She is an assistant professor at Joseph Ki-Zerbo University's Department of Physics. Korsaga is a founding member and editor of the astronomy magazine L'Astronomie Afrique. She is a junior member of the IAU.

Outreach Korsaga has worked in projects aimed at increasing women's participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Traditional attitudes in Burkina Faso view science as a field for men, and she has said that she aims to work towards greater gender equality in Burkinabé sciences. She has stated that she wishes to expand and build educational institutions such as planetariums and a research observatory in Burkina Faso.

Awards In 2022, Korsaga received the inaugural early career award from the African Network of Women in Astronomy—a committee of the African Astronomical Society—and €1,500 (F.CFA980,000). She spoke before the African Union and was honoured by the city of Huesca, Spain, in a sundial installed at the Planetarium of Aragon.

Publications Some of Korsaga's articles include:

with Amram, P; Carignan, C; Epinat, B (January 2019). "GHASP: an H α kinematics survey of spiral galaxies – XII. Distribution of luminous and dark matter in spiral and irregular nearby galaxies using Rc-band photometry". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 482 (1): 154–174. with Sorgho, A; Carignan, C; Pisano, D J; et al. (January 2019). "Early observations of the MHONGOOSE galaxies: getting ready for MeerKAT". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 482 (1): 1248–1269. with Epinat, B; Amram, P; Carignan, C; et al. (December 2019). "GHASP: an H α kinematical survey of spiral galaxies – XIII. Distribution of luminous and dark matter in spiral and irregular nearby galaxies using H α and H i rotation curves and WISE photometry". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 490 (3): 2977–30241. with Namumba, B; Román, J; Falcón-Barroso, J; et al. (March 2023). "MIGHTEE-H i : possible interactions with the galaxy NGC 895". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 521 (4): 5177–5190. with Famaey, Benoit; Freundlich, Jonathan; Posti, Lorenzo; et al. (August 2023). "Disk Galaxies Are Self-similar: The Universality of the H i-to-Halo Mass Ratio for Isolated Disks". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 952 (2).

Notes

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Marie Korsaga

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga

In research: Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga 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: Marie Korsaga is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1984 births, 21st-century Burkinabe women, Academic staff of the University of Ouagadougou, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Marie Korsaga 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.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Marie Korsaga” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Marie Korsaga in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Marie Korsaga in simple terms?

Why does Marie Korsaga 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 Marie Korsaga?

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 Marie Korsaga.