Jessica Mink
American astronomer and theoretical computing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jessica Mink[1] is an American software developer, positional astronomer, and data archivist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.[2] She was part of the team that discovered the rings around the planet Uranus.[3]
Jessica Mink | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 1951 (age 75) |
| Alma mater | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Known for | Discovery of rings of Uranus; developing RVSAO and WCSTools, two widely-used astronomy software packages |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Planetary science and positional astronomy |
| Institutions | Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory |
| Thesis | "Determination of Martian Surface Reflectivity from 0.4 to 1.1 Micron Using a Vidicon Spectrometer" (1974) |
| Website | https://www.jessicamink.com/ http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/mink/ |
Early life and career
Mink was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1951[4] and graduated from Dundee Community High School in 1969. She earned an S.B. degree (1973) and an S.M. degree (1974) in Planetary Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[5]
Upon rejecting her PhD application, Carl Sagan recommended Mink pursue a job at the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, which she did.[6] She worked there from 1976 to 1979 as an astronomical software developer, under the direction of Jim Elliot.[5][6] It was during this time that she was part of the team that discovered the rings around Uranus.[7] Within the team, she was responsible for the data reduction software and data analysis.[8] After working at Cornell she moved back to MIT with her research group, where she did work that contributed to the discovery of the rings of Neptune.[9] She has written a number of commonly used software packages for astrophysics, including WCSTools and RVSAO.[8][10]
Mink is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.[11]
Personal life
Mink is an avid bicycle user and bicycle activist.[12] She has served as an officer and director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition[13] and has been the route planner for the Massachusetts portion of the East Coast Greenway since 1991.
Mink is a transgender woman; she publicly came out in 2011 at the age of 60.[14] She has since spoken out about her experiences transitioning.[15] She was also featured in two articles about the experiences of transitioning in a professional environment.[14][16] She was a co-organizer of the 2015 Inclusive Astronomy conference at Vanderbilt University.[17]
Mink currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), and has an adult daughter.[6]