Editing Sandra Faber

{{Short description|American astrophysicist}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Sandra M. Faber
| image             = Sandra-faber-barack-obama.png
| alt               = Dr. Sandra Faber as a National Medal of Science laureate for 2011. At the presentation ceremony with President Barack Obama of the U.S.A. in 2013.
| caption           = Sandra Faber accepting the [[National Medal of Science]] from President [[Barack Obama]] in 2013
| birth_name        = Sandra Moore
| birth_date        = {{birth date and age|1944|12|28}}
| birth_place       = [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]], [[United States|U.S.]]
| death_date        =
| death_place       = 
| citizenship       = 
| nationality       = [[United States|American]]
| field             = [[Astronomy]]
| work_institutions = [[University of California, Santa Cruz]]<br>[[Lick Observatory]]
| alma_mater        = [[Swarthmore College]]<br>[[Harvard University]]
| thesis_title      = Photometry of elliptical galaxies in multiple systems
| thesis_url        = https://www.proquest.com/docview/302615200
| thesis_year       = 1971
| doctoral_advisor  = I. John Danziger
| doctoral_students = {{plainlist|1=
*[[Cristina Dalle Ore]]
*[[Tod R. Lauer]]
}}
| known_for         = [[Faber–Jackson relation]], Designing the [[Keck Observatory]]
| prizes            = [[Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics]] {{small|(1985)}} <br>[[National Medal of Science]] <small>(2011)</small> <br>[[Bruce Medal]] <small>(2012)</small><br>[[Gruber Prize in Cosmology]] <small>(2017)</small><br>[[Magellanic Premium]] <small>(2018)</small><br>[[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]] <small>(2020)</small>
| footnotes         = 
| signature         =  
}}

'''Sandra Moore Faber''' (born December 28, 1944) is an American astrophysicist known for her research on the [[Galaxy formation and evolution|evolution of galaxies]]. She is the [[University Professorship (University of California)|University Professor]] of [[Astronomy]] and [[Astrophysics]] at the [[University of California, Santa Cruz]], and works at the [[Lick Observatory]]. She has made discoveries linking the brightness of galaxies to the speed of stars within them and was the co-discoverer of the [[Faber–Jackson relation]]. Faber was also instrumental in designing the [[W. M. Keck Observatory|Keck telescopes]] in Hawaii.

==Early life and education==
Faber studied at [[Swarthmore College]], majoring in [[physics]] and minoring in [[mathematics]] and [[astronomy]]. She earned her bachelor's degree in 1966.  She then earned her [[PhD]] in 1972 from [[Harvard University]], specializing in Optical Observational Astronomy under the direction of I. John Danziger.<ref name=":2" /><ref name="thesis-faber-1972">{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|302615200}} |title=Photometry of elliptical galaxies in multiple systems |date=1972 |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |type=PhD |last=Faber |first=Sandra Moore |oclc=976673998 }}</ref> During this time the only observatory open to her was the [[Kitt Peak National Observatory]], which had inadequate technology for the complexity of her thesis.

==Personal life==
Faber married Andrew Leigh Faber, a fellow Swarthmore physics major one year her junior, on June 9, 1967. They have two daughters, Robin and Holly.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://physics.unl.edu/~fulcrum/resources/women/sfaber.htm | title=Sandra Moore Faber}}</ref>

==Career and research==
In 1972, Faber joined the faculty of the [[Lick Observatory]] at [[University of California, Santa Cruz]], becoming the first woman on staff.<ref name=":2" /> In 1976, Faber observed the relationship between the brightness and spectra of galaxies and the orbital speeds and motions of the stars within them. The law that resulted would become known as the [[Faber–Jackson relation]], after herself and the co-author, graduate student [[Robert Jackson (scientist)|Robert Jackson]].<ref name="Gruber"/><ref name="Lemonick"/>

Three years later, Faber and collaborator [[John Gallagher III|John S. Gallagher]] published a paper collecting all of the evidence for the existence of [[dark matter]] that had been published at that point. In 1983, she published original research showing that dark matter was not composed of fast-moving [[neutrino]]s ("hot dark matter") and that instead, it was likely composed of slow-moving particles yet to be discovered ("cold dark matter").<ref name="Gruber">{{Cite web|url=https://aas.org/posts/news/2017/05/sandra-faber-receives-500000-gruber-cosmology-prize|title=Sandra Faber Receives $500,000 Gruber Cosmology Prize {{!}} American Astronomical Society|website=aas.org|language=en|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref><ref name="Lemonick"/>

Around 1984, Faber collaborated with [[Joel Primack]], [[George Blumenthal (astrophysicist)|George Blumenthal]], and [[Martin Rees]] to elucidate their theory of how dark matter was part of [[galaxy formation and evolution]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Blumenthal|display-authors=etal|title=Formation of galaxies and large-scale structure with cold dark matter|journal=Nature|date=11 Oct 1984|volume=311|issue=5986|pages=517–525|doi=10.1038/311517a0|bibcode = 1984Natur.311..517B |osti=1447148|s2cid=4324282}}</ref> This was the first proposal of how galaxies have formed and evolved from the [[Big Bang]] to today. While some details have been proven wrong, the paper still stands as the current working paradigm for structure information in the universe. She and her collaborators discovered high-speed galaxy flows.<ref name=":2" />

In 1985, Faber was involved with the construction of the [[W. M. Keck Observatory|Keck Telescope]] and building the first wide-field planetary camera for the [[Hubble Space Telescope]].  [[UC Berkeley]] physicist [[Jerry Nelson (astronomer)|Jerry Nelson]] designed the Keck telescope, but Faber helped to sell the idea of large optical telescopes all over the world.  The Keck telescope is the second largest optical telescope in the world, with a 10-meter primary mirror of a novel type that consists of 36 hexagonal segments.
Sandra Faber co-chaired the Science Steering Committee, which oversaw the first-light instrument for Keck I.  She also continued to insist on high optical quality for the primary mirror of the Keck I, and went on to work on the Keck II as well.<ref name="Hamilton">{{cite news |last1=Hamilton |first1=Marianne L. |title=Los Gatos and Saratoga: Sandra Faber has helped to build and use some of the world's largest telescopes |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2015/04/01/los-gatos-and-saratoga-sandra-faber-has-helped-to-build-and-use-some-of-the-worlds-largest-telescopes/ |access-date=6 August 2021 |work=The Mercury News |date=April 1, 2015}}</ref>
[[File:Sandra Faber 1988.jpg|thumb|Faber in 1988]]
During the later 1980s, Faber got involved in an eight-year project called the "[[Seven Samurai (disambiguation)|Seven Samurai]]" collaboration, which attempted to catalogue the size and orbital speeds of 400 galaxies. Though this goal was not met, the group developed a way to estimate the distance to any galaxy, which became one of the most reliable ways to measure the total density of the universe.<ref name="Lemonick">{{cite book |last1=Lemonick |first1=Michael D. |title=The light at the edge of the universe : leading cosmologists on the brink of a scientific revolution |date=1993 |publisher=Villard Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0679413042 |edition=1st |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lightatedgeofuni00lemo }}</ref>{{rp|23,69}}

In 1990, she assisted with the on-orbit commissioning of the wide field planetary camera for the Hubble Space Telescope.  She says this was one of the most exhilarating and well-known phases of her career.  The optics of the Hubble were flawed, and Faber and her team helped to diagnose the cause as [[spherical aberration]].<ref name="Autobiography">Faber, S. (1995, July 12). Autobiographical Sketch: Sandra M Faber. Retrieved November 14, 2015, from http://cwp.library.ucla.edu/articles/faber.htm</ref> In 1995, Faber was appointed University Professor at UCSC.<ref name=":2" />

Faber was also the principal investigator of the [[Nuker Team]], which used the Hubble Space Telescope to search for [[supermassive black holes]] at the centers of galaxies.<ref name=":2"/>  One of her most recent works include the addition of a new optical spectrograph for the Keck II telescope, which saw its first light in 1996.  The new addition would increase the Keck II's power for observing far-away galaxies by 13-fold.  She has also joined up with other scientists to create the CANDELS project, which is the largest survey of the universe taken by the Hubble Telescope.<ref>{{cite press release |id={{ProQuest|848222994}} |title=Sandra Faber Honored By American Astronomical Society |publisher=University of California at Santa Cruz |date=18 January 2011 |url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2011/01/faber-russell.html }}</ref>

At UCSC she focuses her research on the evolution of structure in the universe and the evolution and formation of galaxies. In addition to this, she led the development of the DEIMOS instrument on the [[W. M. Keck Observatory|Keck telescopes]] to obtain spectra of cosmologically distant galaxies. On August 1, 2012 she became the Interim Director of the [[University of California Observatories]].<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2009/02/2739.html|title=Astronomer Sandra Faber to receive Franklin Institute's prestigious Bower Award|last1=Stephens|first1=Tim|website=UC Santa Cruz News|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref>

Sandra Faber was a co-editor of the ''[[Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics]]'' with [[Ewine van Dishoeck]] from 2012 to 2021.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van Dishoeck |first1=Ewine F. |last2=Kennicutt |first2=Robert C. |title=Introduction |journal=Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics |date=18 August 2020 |volume=58 |issue=1 |pages=v–vii |doi=10.1146/annurev-aa-58-081420-100001 |bibcode=2020ARA&A..58....0V |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CO-EDITORS OF THE ANNUAL REVIEW OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS - VOLUME 50, 2012 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/db/directory?2012,astro |website=Annual Reviews |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CO-EDITORS OF THE ANNUAL REVIEW OF ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS - VOLUME 59, 2021 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/db/directory?2021,astro |website=Annual Reviews |access-date=28 July 2021}}</ref> She serves on the Board of Directors of [[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Reviews]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Annual Reviews Board of Directors |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/about/our-team |website=Annual Reviews}}</ref>

==Honors and awards==
* 1977,  [[Alfred P. Sloan Foundation]] Fellowship<ref name="Rossiter">{{cite book |last1=Rossiter |first1=Margaret W. |title=Women Scientists in America: Forging a New World Since 1972 |date=April 2, 2012 |publisher=JHU Press |page=124 |isbn=9781421402338 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m_PU_TupLosC&pg=PA124 |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
* 1978, Bart J. Bok Prize, [[Harvard University]]<ref name=":2" />
* 1985. elected to the [[National Academy of Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Sandra M. Faber |url=http://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/members/55902.html |website=National Academy of Sciences |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
* 1985, [[Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics]]<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |url=https://web.sonoma.edu/hosts/physastro/brucemedalists/Faber/Faber.html  |title=The Bruce Medalists: Sandra M. Faber  |website=www.phys-astro.sonoma.edu|access-date=2021-08-05}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|date=2008-01-08|title=Faber Receives Heineman Prize for Work in Astrophysics|journal=Physics Today|volume=39|issue=3|pages=119|language=en|doi=10.1063/1.2814940}}</ref>
* 1986, Honorary Degree, [[Swarthmore College]]<ref name="UC Observatories"/> 
* 1989, elected member, [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Dr. Sandra Moore Faber |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/sandra-moore-faber |website=American Academy of Arts and Sciences |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
* 1996-1997, [[Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Lectureship and Medal]], [[University of Texas]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Antoinette de Vaucouleurs Lectureship and Medal |url=https://astronomy.utexas.edu/highlights/astronomy-prize-visitor-programs/antoinette-de-vaucouleurs-lectureship-and-medal |website=The University of Texas at Austin |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
* 1997, Honorary Degree, [[Williams College]]<ref name="UC Observatories"/>
* 2001, elected to the [[American Philosophical Society]]<ref name="Tim">{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Tim |title=Astronomer Sandra Faber elected to American Philosophical Society |url=https://currents.ucsc.edu/00-01/06-04/faber.html |access-date=3 August 2021 |work=UC Santa Cruz Currents |publisher= |date=June 4, 2001 }}</ref>
* 2005, Medaille de l'Institute d'Astrophysique de Paris<ref name="UC Observatories">{{cite web |title=Prizes and Awards to UC Astronomy Faculty 2013 February |url=https://www.ucolick.org/documents/uc_prizes.pdf |website=UC Observatories |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
* 2006, [[Harvard Centennial Medal]]<ref name="Harvard">{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Tim |title=Astronomer Sandra Faber awarded Harvard Centennial Medal, elected to Harvard Board of Overseers |url=https://currents.ucsc.edu/05-06/06-12/faber.asp |access-date=3 August 2021 |work=UC Santa Cruz Currents |publisher= |date=June 12, 2006 }}</ref>
* 2006, Member, [[Harvard Board of Overseers]]<ref name="Harvard"/>
* 2006, Honorary Degree, [[University of Chicago]]<ref name="UC Observatories"/>
* 2009, [[Bower Award]] and Prize for Achievement in Science, [[Franklin Institute]]<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2"/>
* 2010, Honorary Degree, [[University of Pennsylvania]]<ref name="UC Observatories"/>
* 2011, Honorary Degree, [[University of Michigan]]<ref name="UC Observatories"/>
* 2011, [[Henry Norris Russell Lectureship]], [[American Astronomical Society]]<ref name=":0" />
* 2012, [[Bruce Medal]], [[Astronomical Society of the Pacific]]<ref name=":0" />
* 2012, [[Karl Schwarzschild Medal]], [[German Astronomical Society]]<ref name=":0" />
*2012,  [[National Medal of Science]]<ref name=":0" /><ref name="NMS">{{cite news |last1=Burns |first1=J. |title=UCSC astronomer Sandra Faber to receive the National Medal of Science |url=http://news.ucsc.edu/2012/12/national-science-medal.html |access-date=6 August 2021 |work=UC Santa Cruz News |date=December 21, 2015}}</ref>
* 2017, [[Gruber Prize in Cosmology]]<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gruber.yale.edu/cosmology/press/2017-gruber-cosmology-prize-press-release|title=2017 Gruber Cosmology Prize Press Release {{!}} The Gruber Foundation|website=gruber.yale.edu|language=en|access-date=2017-07-08}}</ref>
* 2018, Magellanic Premium Medal, [[American Philosophical Society]]<ref name="Stephens">{{cite news |last1=Stephens |first1=Tim |title=Sandra Faber receives American Philosophical Society's Magellanic Premium Medal |url=https://news.ucsc.edu/2019/04/faber-medal.html |access-date=3 August 2021 |work=University News |publisher=UC Santa Cruz |date=April 29, 2019}}</ref>
* 2020, [[Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ras.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-01/Gold%20-%20Sandra_M_Faber.pdf|title=Professor Sandra Moore Faber: 2020 Gold Medal in Astronomy|publisher=RAS|access-date= 25 August 2020}}</ref>
* 2020, Elected a Legacy Fellow of the [[American Astronomical Society]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aas.org/grants-and-prizes/aas-fellows|title=AAS Fellows|publisher=AAS|access-date=27 September 2020}}</ref>
* Member, Board of Trustees of the [[Carnegie Institution for Science]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Board of Trustees |url=https://carnegiescience.edu/about/leadership/trustees |website=Carnegie Institution for Science |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>
*  Minor planet #283277 Faber is named for her.<ref>{{cite web |title=283277 Faber (2011 HX34) |url=https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr=283277 |website=JPL Small-Body Database Browser |access-date=5 August 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Faber–Jackson relation]]
*[[Hubble Space Telescope]]
*[[Nuker Team]]
*[[List of women in leadership positions on astronomical instrumentation projects]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Scholia}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lemonick |first1=Michael D. |title=The light at the edge of the universe : leading cosmologists on the brink of a scientific revolution |date=1993 |publisher=Villard Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0679413042 |edition=1st |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/lightatedgeofuni00lemo }}

==External links==
* [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt8779q7bm/ Inventory of the Sandra M. Faber Papers], Online Archive of California 
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20151208142926/http://www.astro.ucsc.edu/faculty/profiles/singleton.php?singleton=true&cruz_id=smfaber Dr. Faber's page @ UCSC]
* [http://www.meta-library.net/transcript/sf-frame.html See video of Dr. Faber @ Meta-Library.net]
* {{YouTube|wqNNCm7SNyw|Video of Faber explaining How Galaxies Were Cooked from the Primordial Soup}}, from the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/33932 Oral history interview transcript with Sandra M. Faber on 15 October 1955, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/47293 Oral history interview transcript with Sandra M. Faber on 12 November 2020, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library & Archives]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ApkmqdI0YE Video of Faber talking about her work], from the National Science & Technology Medals Foundation

{{Winners of the National Medal of Science|physical}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Faber, Sandra M.}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American women astronomers]]
[[Category:American cosmologists]]
[[Category:Scientists from California]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences]]
[[Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni]]
[[Category:Lick Observatory]]
[[Category:University of California, Santa Cruz faculty]]
[[Category:Winners of the Dannie Heineman Prize for Astrophysics]]
[[Category:20th-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:21st-century American astronomers]]
[[Category:20th-century American women scientists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women scientists]]
[[Category:Swarthmore College alumni]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]
[[Category:Sloan Research Fellows]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:American planetary scientists]]
[[Category:American women planetary scientists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Annual Reviews (publisher) editors]]
[[Category:Benjamin Franklin Medal (Franklin Institute) laureates]]