Wendy Freedman

About

Canadian-American astronomer known for her measurement of the Hubble constant and for serving as director of the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, and Las Campanas, Chile. She has also worked as a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago. Her main research interests are in observational cosmology. She focuses on measuring both the current and past expansion rates of the universe and on characterizing the nature of dark energy.

Before Fame

She developed a strong interest in science after taking a high school physics class. She attended the University of Toronto and received her degree in astronomy in 1979. She completed her Ph.D. in astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Toronto in 1984 before joining the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California as a post-doctoral fellow. She became a faculty member of the scientific staff three years later and was the first woman to join Carnegie's permanent staff.

Trivia

She has an asteroid named in her honor. Asteroid 107638 Wendyfreedman was discovered by David Healy at the Junk Bond Observatory in the year 2001 and he named it after her. She and her family are culturally Jewish. 

Family Life

She was born Wendy Laurel Freedman. She was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. She was the daughter of a medical doctor and a concert pianist. She has two children with Barry F. Madore. 

Associated With

She has made a career investigating and incorporating several ideas proposed by astronomer Edwin Hubble.