Amina Helmi

Helmi was educated at Leiden University where she was awarded a PhD in 2000 with a thesis on the formation of the galactic halo, supervised by Tim de Zeeuw and Simon White.^[6][2]

Since 2003 Helmi has been faculty member at the University of Groningen, and has been a full professor since 2014. Previously, she held postdoctoral positions at the University of La Plata in Argentina, the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in Germany, and Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Her research focuses investigates the evolution and dynamics of galaxies, in particular the Milky Way, using locations, velocities, ages, and chemical abundances of stars to understand the formation process of galaxies, known as galactic archaeology.^[5][7] She also studies the nature of dark matter. In her research, Helmi uses computer simulations as well as observational data from for example the Gaia space telescope.^[8][9]

In 2019, Helmi was named one of the four winners of the Spinoza Prize.^[10] She was awarded membership of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2017.^[11]

She was awarded the Christiaan Huygensprize in 2004^[12] and the Pastoor Schmeitsprize in 2010.^[13]

The Helmi stream is named after her and she was awarded the Suffrage Science award in 2019.

In 2021, Helmi won the Brouwer Award from the Division on Dynamical Astronomy of the American Astronomical Society.