Emily Levesque (born 1984[1]) is an American astronomer, author, and associate professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington.[2][3] She is renowned for her work on massive stars and using these stars to investigate galaxy formation. She is also the author of three books, including the 2020 popular science book The Last Stargazers: The Enduring Story of Astronomy's Vanishing Explorers.[4]
From 2010 to 2015, Levesque was a postdoctoral researcher at University of Colorado as an Einstein Fellow from 2010 to 2013, and then received a Hubble Fellowship from 2013 to 2015.[8][9] She has been an assistant professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Washington since 2015.[2]
In 2015, Levesque, Rachel Bezanson, and Grant R. Tremblay published an influential[10] paper,[11] which critiqued the use of the Physics GRE as an admissions cutoff criterion for astronomy postgraduate programs by showing there was no statistical correlation between applicant's score and later success in their academic careers. Subsequently, the American Astronomical Society adopted the stance that the Physics GRE should not be mandatory for graduate school applications,[12][13] and many graduate astronomy programs have since removed the Physics GRE as a required part of their graduate school applications.[10][13]
Levesque and Jamie Lomax also sparked a jumping spider Twitter arachnoastronomy phenomenon with the help of Nathan Morehouse who studies spider eyesight at the University of Cincinnati.[17][18]
Levesque's writing is also award-winning. Understanding Stellar Evolution, her text based on a series of graduate lectures written with Henny Lamers was awarded the 2023 Chambliss Astronomical Writing Award by the American Astronomical Society.[23]
Levesque, Emily (2020). The last stargazers : the enduring story of astronomy's vanishing explorers. Naperville, Illinois. ISBN978-1-4926-8107-6. OCLC1125025889.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Levesque, Emily M.; Bezanson, Rachel; Tremblay, Grant R. (December 10, 2015). "Physics GRE Scores of Prize Postdoctoral Fellows in Astronomy". arXiv:1512.03709 [physics.ed-ph].