astronomy

María Teresa Ruiz

María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz rather than just read about it. In short: María Teresa Ruiz (born 24 September 1946) is a Chilean astronomer who was the first woman to receive Chile's National Prize for Exact Sciences, the first female recipient of a doctorate in astrophysics at Princeton University, and the first woman president of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. She is also known for the discovery of the brown dwarf Kelu-1.

Key takeaways

María Teresa Ruiz belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
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Connect María Teresa Ruiz to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of María Teresa Ruiz from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

María Teresa Ruiz (born 24 September 1946) is a Chilean astronomer who was the first woman to receive Chile's National Prize for Exact Sciences, the first female recipient of a doctorate in astrophysics at Princeton University, and the first woman president of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. She is also known for the discovery of the brown dwarf Kelu-1. In 2018, she was listed as one of the top 10 most powerful and influential women in Chile owing to her scientific contributions. During her career she has written two books about astronomy: Desde Chile un cielo estrellado: lecturas para fascinarse con la astronomía (2013) and Hijos de las Estrellas (2017).

Early life and education Ruiz was born in Santiago de Chile in 1946. In 1966, Ruiz started a program in chemical engineering at the University of Chile but found her vocation in attending an astronomy summer school: she continued her studies in the newly founded astronomy program at the University of Chile and was the first person to graduate the program, in 1971.

Career and research In 1975, upon completing her thesis work with Martin Schwarzschild, Ruiz became the first woman to obtain a PhD in astrophysics at Princeton University. In 1997 she became the first woman in Chile's history to receive the country's National Prize for Exact Sciences. She held a postdoctoral research position at Trieste Observatory and worked for two years at UNAM, the Institute of Astronomy in Mexico.

Astronomic discovery In 1997, Ruiz discovered Kelu-1 which is a binary system of two brown dwarfs. Kelu-1 is also among the first systems of free floating brown dwarfs. This system is located in the constellation Hydra and sits approximately about 61 light years from planet Earth. Ruiz was surprised at the unusual properties of the spectrum she detected which did not look like the typical stellar spectra she was used to seeing. The spectrum of Kelu-1 contained lithium and the system had an extremely red color. These two properties led Ruiz to conclude that Kelu-1 must be a brown dwarf—one of the first free-floating ones discovered. The name Kelu comes from the language Mapuche and it means “red”, in reference to the color of the star.

Overview of positions Between 1975 and 1976 she worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the Astronomical Observatory of Trieste, Italy. From 1977 until 1978, she was a visiting researcher at the Institute of Astronomy of the UNAM (National Autonomous University of Mexico). In 1978, she was a visiting researcher at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) NASA. From 1979 until 1989, she taught in the Department of Astronomy of Universidad de Chile. Here, she started as an associate professor and later on obtained a tenured post. Since 1992 she is a member of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) representing the Universidad de Chile. In 1993 Ruiz was a member of the Review Committee of the Instituto de Astronomia in the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil. (Astronomy Department in the University of São Paulo) In 1995 she joined the Comité de Búsqueda para Project Scientist del Proyecto Gemini. (English: Project Scientist Research Party of Project Gemini.) In 1996 the Chilean government named her vice president of the Users Committee of the European Southern Observatory. Between 2001 and 2005 she was the chairwoman of the Astronomy Department. In 2015 she was elected as the president of the Chilean Academy of Science. As of 2019, she is professor at Universidad de Chile Department of Astronomy (DAS), and director of the Center for Excellence in Astrophysics and Associated Technologies (CATA).

Selected works Desde Chile un cielo estrellado: lecturas para fascinarse con la astronomía (2013) Hijos de las estrellas (2017)

Awards and honors Honors Carnegie-Chile Fellowship, 1971–1975. Honors MacArthur Foundation-AAAS Starter Grant, 1993. Presidential Chair in Science, 1996. Chancellor's Medal, University of Chile, 1996. National Prize for Exact Sciences, 1997. Chancellor's Medal, University of Chile, 1998. Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, 1998. Labarca Merit Award, 2000. Scholarship Guggenheim, 2001. L'Oréal-UNESCO Awards for Women in Science, 2017. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2017. Legion of Honour, Chevalier class (Knight)

Personal life Ruiz' hobby is embroidery. She is capable of embroidering whole portraits of people and families, such as her own. She started the hobby when she went to study abroad: she wanted to remember her family, so she embroidered a family portrait to bring her loved ones with her. She is married to the Chilean scientist and professor Fernando Lund. In 1980, they had a son named Camilo who is now a civil engineer.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with María Teresa Ruiz

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz

In research: María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz 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: María Teresa Ruiz is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1946 births, 21st-century Chilean women scientists, Chilean astronomers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz in 20 minutes

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

Frequently asked questions

What is María Teresa Ruiz in simple terms?

Why does María Teresa Ruiz 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 María Teresa Ruiz?

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 María Teresa Ruiz.