 Madhulika
Guhathakurta
Solar Physicist
NASA / Goddard
Space Flight Center
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 B.S. -- Physics;
Delhi University, Delhi, India
M.S. -- Physics
and Astrophysics; Delhi University, Delhi, India
PhD -- Physics;
University of Denver |
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Solar Physicist,
studying the solar corona using data from satellites such as
Spartan. |
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"I am a physicist
and maybe more of an astrophysicist, and I study the sun. From
our instrument we can get information about the three
dimensional structure of the corona." |
 
"I'm not really an astronomer. I never took a course in astronomy. I am a
physicist and maybe more of an astrophysicist, and I study the sun. From
our instrument we can get information about the three dimensional
structure of the corona. The electron density distribution in the corona.
Some field for how the temperature falls off in the corona. Because
whatever is in that solar corona, eventually comes down through the
atmosphere into our environment ... environment and beyond. And so we
would like to understand the sun. Even though I'm technically on the
Spartan project, my job is essentially to understand the large scale
structure of the solar corona. And Spartan provides a glimpse towards the
large scale corona through its images and data taking."
"I work
with mostly physicists, other physicists, solar astronomers,
astrophysicists. I collaborate with people from universities quite a bit.
Working here is really nice. Our time is so flexible. It's not like I have
to punch a clock between 8 to 5. I can come here anytime. I can leave
anytime. I can work anytime. I am free to work at night. Free to work on
weekends. Anytime I want to."
"Writing proposals are probably the worst thing I like about my job.
Because you know that there is very little money right now with NASA to go
around to support all the proposals that they get. Typically most of the
proposals, at least 60%, 70% of the proposals are very good proposals. But
they can only fund maybe 30% of the proposals. So you know you're spending
a lot of time into something where it's like a winning a lottery
essentially. That's where the frustration comes from."
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