SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 12th April (EUROPA PRESS) –
The American Astronomical Society (AAS) and its Solar Physics Division (SPD) have established an honorary award in memory of Irene González Hernández, a talented solar physicist from La Orotava (Tenerife) who completed her doctoral research at the Institute of Astrophysics of the Canary Islands (IAC) and passed away in February 2014.
This prestigious award will be presented annually to mid-career researchers who have made substantial contributions to the study of the Sun.
The recipient of the award will have the opportunity to deliver a keynote lecture at a Division or Society meeting, receive a monetary prize, and be acknowledged for their remarkable work, as stated by the IAC.
Irene González Hernández, a trailblazing Spanish solar physicist, was instrumental in pioneering holographic techniques in local helioseismology, enabling the detection of solar activity on the Sun’s invisible hemisphere.
Following her Ph.D. in Astrophysics in 1998 from the University of La Laguna in Tenerife and her work with the IAC solar physics group, she held research positions at various institutions, including the National Solar Observatory (NSO) and Stanford University in the USA, and Queen Mary University of London in the UK.
She returned to the NSO in 2003 with a senior research appointment, collaborating with the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) team of the National Science Foundation (NSF) on a project to develop holographic techniques for detecting solar activity on the Sun’s unseen hemisphere, referred to as the ‘far side’.
Irene González pioneered this innovative technique, offering insight into predicting key characteristics of solar activity that will appear on the visible hemisphere due to rotational movement.
Her groundbreaking work in ‘Space Weather’, or space meteorology, positioned her as a leading figure in this area of research.
Irene González Hernández’s family expresses deep gratitude for this honour.
“Irene’s memory lives on within us, and the global recognition of scientific advancements each year in her name by her colleagues in the US and worldwide brings us happiness and helps us cope with the sorrow of her loss,” shared her mother.
This prestigious award serves to underline Irene González Hernández’s legacy as a scientist and her significant contributions to solar physics.
