Margaret J. Geller (born December 8, 1947) is an American astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian. Her work has included pioneering maps of the nearby universe, studies of the relationship between galaxies and their environment, and the development and application of methods for measuring the distribution of matter in the universe.
Geller made pioneering maps of large-scale structure in the universe. Geller received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley (1970) and a Ph.D. in Physics from Princeton (1974). Geller completed her doctoral dissertation, titled "Bright galaxies in rich clusters: a statistical model for magnitude distributions", under the supervision of James Peebles.[2] Although Geller was thinking about studying solid state physics in graduate school, Charles Kittel suggested she go to Princeton to study astrophysics.[3][4]
Geller is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 1990, she was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.[5] Two years later, she was elected to the Physics section of the US National Academy of Sciences.[6] From 2000 to 2003, she served on the Council of the National Academy of Sciences. She has received seven honorary degrees (D. S. H. C. or L. H. C.).
Geller is known for observational and theoretical work in cosmology and extragalactic astronomy. Her long range goals are to discover what the universe looks like and to understand how the patterns we observe today evolved. In the 1980's, she made pioneering maps of the nearby universe,[7] which included the Great Wall[8] and was the inspiration for Jasper Johns 2020 piece called Slice.[9] Her SHELS project maps the distribution of dark matter in the universe.[10] With the 6.5-m MMT, she leads a deeper survey of the middle-aged universe called
HectoMAP.[3] Geller has developed innovative techniques for investigating the structure and mass of clusters of galaxies and the relationship between clusters and their surroundings.
Geller is also a co-discoverer of hypervelocity stars which may be an important tracer of the matter distribution in the Galaxy.[11]
Geller has made several films for public education. Her 8-minute video Where the Galaxies Are (1989) was the first graphic voyage through the observed universe and was awarded a CINE Gold Eagle. A later 40-minute film, So Many Galaxies...So Little Time, contains more sophisticated prize-winning (IEEE/Siggraph) graphics and was on display at the National Air and Space Museum.
Geller has lectured extensively to public audiences around the world. She has lectured twice in
the main amphitheater at the Chautauqua Institution.[12]
She is included in NPR's list of The Best Commencement Speeches, Ever.[13]
Her story about her entry into astrophysics and meeting the renowned astrophysicist John Archibald Wheeler, entitled "Mapping the Universe" was published by The Story Collider podcast on May 21, 2014.[14]
