Heidi Hammel

Heidi Hammel is a Planetary Astronomer. Though she

didn’t realize it as a child, she always had the skills to be
one. From her youth to present-time Heidi is still adding
more things to her list of great achievements.
Heidi Hammel was born on March 14th, 1960 in
California. She moved a lot. As a young girl Heidi had many
interests including music and astrology. Heidi also liked
math, indoor games, and getting telescopes. Heidi had her
first scientific experience as a girl with her friend. They made
new complicated versions of games such as Monopoly and
then made graphs and charts. As Heidi moved to high
school she decided to join the band. She became friends
with those that played in the band too. She also joined the
school play. Heidi never thought of her future career, but did
have dreams. She refused to let her father’s alcoholic
problems dominate them. Because of her father Heidi
became good at hiding emotions a talent her mother didn’t
like. Her parents got divorced which didn’t surprise her.
Heidi’s youth was not what you think it would be.
Heidi had many great achievements. She received her
undergraduate degree from the college MIT in 1982. She
couldn’t afford MIT at first but she somehow found extra
money by working part-time at the campus and getting a job.
Heidi also received her PhD from the University of Hawaii in
1988. Heidi won many awards. One is the Klumpke-Roberts
award in 1995. Another is the Harold C. Urey Prize in 1996.
In 2002 Heidi won the Carl Sagan award. Heidi is known as
a world-renowned planetary astronomer. She was elected a
fellow of the American Association for the advancement of
science in 2000. Heidi also spent nine years at the
department of Earth as a Principal Research Scientist. Heidi
also made many discoveries in space. The most important
and famous was finding the “Big Red Spot” on Jupiter. Heidi
has had many great achievements.
 Now Heidi is living the life of a normal parent with a big
job. She has three young children. She is married to an
engineer named Tim Dalton. Her children are Beatrix,
Tobias, and Lucas. Heidi and Tim take their parenting job
very seriously. Heidi is a Senior Research Scientist Co-
Director of the Space Institute in Colorado. She also is the
Vice President of the Association of the Planetary Society.
Heidi’s favorite planets are Uranus and Neptune. In fact her
latest research involves those two planets with the Hubble
Bubble Space Telescope. Heidi only focuses her studies on
Uranus and Neptune. Unlike most scientists, Heidi tries her
best to challenge herself. Soon an astronomical observatory
will be launched to Jupiter in 2013. Many people say Heidi’s
future is unpredictable, but for now she is living a busy life as
a planetary astronomical mother.
Heidi Hammel has had many great achievements and
is most likely to have more. She is a busy mother of three
working as a planetary astronomer. Heidi is known to many
people and will be known to many more.