Kuxan Suum - About Author

Dora Elia González Villarreal y Musielak was born in Monclova, Coahuila (Mexico). In 1978 she graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Mexico with a degree in aeronautical engineering, earning her the honor of becoming the first woman in Latin America to receive the title. The same year, she immigrated to the United States to pursue graduate studies, and a few years after was awarded a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. degree in aerospace engineering, specializing in rocket propulsion. She won a NASA Graduate Research Fellowship that allowed to earn a doctoral degree and study plasma rockets.

Dr. González Villarreal y Musielak has spent her career conducting research in the aerospace industry and as a professor teaching science mathematics and engineering courses at several universities, most recently at the University of Texas in Arlington. She was awarded a NASA Faculty Research Fellowship to work at Langley with researchers there in the study of hypersonic propulsion. She was also honored as Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

Dora Musielak is the author of Sophie’s Diary (2004) translated into Spanish as El Diario de Sofi, which, through a fictionalized journal, tells the story of a young mathematician. Read about the French mathematician that inspired Sophie's Diary and read the book to discover the exciting mathematics it contains: www.sophiesdiary.net

Dr. Musielak is an enthusiastic promoter of the history of women in science and mathematics and has given numerous talks on the topic. In 2009, she was invited to give a talk on the contributions of women astronomers as part of the International Year of Astronomy celebrated around the world.

Stories of Women Stargazers

by Dora Musielak

Today we know that there are billions of galaxies in the Universe. We now have proof that there are planets circling other stars. But at the dawn of the seventeenth century, astronomers knew of no more celestial bodies than the ancient stargazers. Until the advent of the telescope, the sky contained one sun, one moon, five planets, and a fixed array of stars arranged in whimsical constellations. Then, when Galileo turned his telescope skywards, the narrow view of the cosmos widened. For the first time in the history of the world, physics, astronomy, and much of mathematics went from mythological musings to rigorous disciplines. And women were part of the discovery and wonder of that era when the telescope opened up a new window to the heavens and put humankind a bit closer to the stars.

The veil of time now falls over the faces of many women stargazers of the past and many of them may never be known by us. But for sure their names are written in the stars they observed in the stillness of night. This talk will also examine the lives of two women scientists of the seventeenth century. One who understood the planetary laws of Kepler and provided a more elegant solution to Kepler’s Problem. And another who became a skillful astronomer collaborating with the great Hevelius.