Catherine Pilachowski Explained

Catherine Pilachowski
Birth Name:	Catherine Anderson Pilachowski
Birth Place:	Sacramento, California, U.S.
Fields:	Astronomy
Thesis Title:	The Luminosities and Compositions of a Group of Mildly Peculiar Late-Type Giant Stars
Thesis Year:	1975
Doctoral Advisor:	Walter Bonsack

Catherine Anderson Pilachowski (born 1949)^[1] is an American astronomer, professor and Kirkwood Chair in astronomy at Indiana University Bloomington. She is a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and former president of the American Astronomical Society.^[2]

Early life and education

Pilachowski was born and raised in California.^[3] She has stated that growing up during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union led to her interest in becoming an astronomer.

She received her B.S. in Physics in 1971 from Harvey Mudd College in California and an M.S. and Ph.D. in 1975 from the University of Hawaii.

Career

Pilachowski is a fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Astronomical Society. She was president of the American Astronomical Society from 2002 to 2004. For over twenty years, she was a staff astronomer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory's Kitt Peak Observatory in Tucson, Arizona, where she served as project scientist for the design and construction of the WIYN Telescope.^[4] ^[5] ^[6]

Pilachowski became a professor of astronomy at Indiana University and in 2001 was named the Daniel Kirkwood Chair in the Department of Astronomy.^[7]

Pilachowski specializes in understanding the spectra of starlight. Her work has included searching for the molecular species hydrogen fluoride.^[8]

Publications

Chemical abundances of open clusters from high-resolution infrared spectra - II. NGC 752 Bocek Topcu, G.; Afsar, M.; Sneden, C.; Pilachowski, et al. 2020, MNRAS, 491, 544
Carbon and Oxygen Isotopic Ratios. II. Semiregular Variable M Giants Lebzelter, T.; Hinkle, K. H.; Straniero, O.; Lambert, D. L.; Pilachowski, C. A.; Nault, Kr. A. 2019, AJ, 886, 117L
Phosphorus Abundances in the Hyades and Galactic Disk Maas, Z. G.; Cescutti, G.;Pilachowski, C. A. 2019, AJ, 158, 219
Chemical Abundances of Open Clusters From High-Resolution Infrared Spectra. II. NGC 752 Bocek Topcu, G.; Afsar, M.; Sneden, C.; Pilachowski, C. A. et al. 2020, MNRAS,
Chemical abundances of open clusters from high-resolution infrared spectra - I. NGC 6940 Bocek Topcu, G.; Afsar, M.; Sneden, C.; Pilachowski, C. A. et al. 2019, MNRAS, 485, 4625
Carbon Isotope Ratios in M10 Giants Maas, Z. G.; Gerber, J. M.; Deibel, Alex; Pilachowski, C. A. 2019, ApJ, 878, 43
Chlorine Isotope Ratios in M Giants Maas, Z. G., Pilachowski, C. A. 2018, AJ, 156, 2
Is the Young Star RZ Piscium Consuming Its Own (Planetary) Offspring? Punzi, K. M., Kastner, J. H. et al. 2018, AJ, 155, 33.
Photometric Detection of Multiple Populations in Globular Clusters Using Integrated Light Bowman, W. P., Pilachowski, C. A., van Zee, L., Winans, A., Ciardullo, R., Gronwall, C. 2017, AJ, 154, 131.
Photometric and radial-velocity time series of RR Lyrae stars in M3: analysis of single-mode variables Jurcsik, J., Smitola, P. et al. 2017, MNRAS, 468, 1317.
Phosphorus Abundances in FGK Stars Maas, Z. G., Pilachowski, C. A., Cescutti, G. 2017, ApJ, 841, 108.
Differences in the rotational properties of multiple stellar populations in M13: a faster rotation for the `extreme' chemical subpopulation Cordero, M. J., Henault-Brunet, V., Pilachowski, C. A., Balbinot, E., Johnson, C. I., Varri, A. L. 2017, MNRAS, 465, 3515
An Archive of Spectra from the Mayall Fourier Transform Spectrometer at Kitt Peak Pilachowski, C. A., Hinkle, K. H., Young, M. D., Dennis, H. B., Gopu, A., Henschel, R., Hayashi, S. 2017, PASP, 129, 024006.
The M Dwarf Eclipsing Binary CU Cancri Wilson, R. E., Pilachowski, C. A., Terrell, D. 2017, ApJ, 835, 251.
The Abundance of Lithium in an ABG Star in the Globular Cluster M3 (NGC 5272) Givens, R. A., Pilachowski, C. A. 2016, PASP, 128, 124203.

External links

Notes and References

Book: American Men & Women of Science: A Biographical Directory of Today's Leaders in Physical, Biological, and Related Sciences . . 2020 . 978-0-02-866695-2 . Nemeh . Katherine H. . 38th . 12 . Farmington Hills, MI . 8761 . en . Pilachowski, Catherine A. . 2023-02-21 . 2023-02-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230221001429/https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&u=wikipedia&id=GALECX8010257199&v=2.1&it=r&sid=bookmark-GVRL&asid=f34bec73 . live .
Web site: 2019-03-07. Catherine Pilachowski. 2021-03-29. News at IU. en. 2021-04-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20210417142618/https://news.iu.edu/stories/features/her-story/2015/catherine-pilachowski.html. live.
Web site: An Interview with Caty Pilachowski. 2021-03-29. www.astro.indiana.edu. 2020-08-03. https://web.archive.org/web/20200803143010/https://www.astro.indiana.edu/catyp/interview.html. live.
Web site: Astronomy Department Indiana University Bloomington. 2021-03-29. www.astro.indiana.edu. 2021-04-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20210418164038/https://astro.indiana.edu/faculty/pilachowski.shtml. live.
Web site: NASA bio. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20100112191445/http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/415121main_Bio%20-%20Caty%20Pilachowski.pdf . 2010-01-12 .
Web site: History of Women in Astronomy: Catherine Pilachowski. 2021-03-31. www.physics.sfsu.edu. 2019-09-17. https://web.archive.org/web/20190917172656/http://www.physics.sfsu.edu/~gmarcy/cswa/history/pilachowski.html. live.
Web site: Catherine A. Pilachowski: University Honors and Awards: Indiana University. 2021-03-31. University Honors & Awards. en-US. 2021-06-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20210624125927/https://honorsandawards.iu.edu/awards/honoree/1901.html. live.
Web site: Croswell. Ken. 2015-09-11. How neutrinos saved your teeth from cavities. 2021-03-29. Science AAAS. en. 2023-02-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230221001407/https://www.science.org/content/article/how-neutrinos-saved-your-teeth-cavities. live.