Dr. Karin Öberg, a Harvard professor of Astronomy, has become a prominent figure in the field of Astrochemistry, a branch of science encompassing the disciplines of both astronomy and chemistry.
(Image credit: https://www.ted.com/speakers/karin_oeberg)
Öberg’s pursuit of science education began at a young age,
as her promise as a talented student was apparent even in high school. Karin’s
chemistry teacher encouraged her to compete in a local chemistry Olympiad,
where her success brought her to the stage of a competition as one of the four-member
team representing Sweden on an international level.
After completing high school in her home country of Sweden, Öberg
enrolled at the California Institute of Technology, studying chemistry. While
there, she got her start in academic research. She joined a lab researching
astrochemistry, creating a strong foundation for her later studies in the
field.
Once she graduated with her undergraduate degree in 2005,
Karin began working on her PhD in the Netherlands, spending four years studying
the chemistry and dynamic of interstellar ice. She accomplished this through a
combination of astronomical observations and lab simulations, leading to the
publication of her thesis work titled, “Complex processes in simple Ices:
Laboratory and Observational studies of gas-grain interactions during star
formation.”
(Image credit:
https://english.clonline.org/stories/us-uk-and-more/2019/03/01/saturday-at-the-new-york-encounter-freedom-and-mission)
Following the completion of her doctoral program, she worked
at NASA as a Hubble Post-doctoral fellow where she used the Hubble telescope to
study organic molecules in young stars. She later went on to teach at the
University of Virginia, and then accepted a position at Harvard University in
2013 and formed the Öberg Astrochemistry Group. In 2021, she was featured in a
Chemical and Engineering News (C&EN) article for her lab’s work on
planetary formation. She and her lab are credited with the discovery of the
first complex molecule in a protoplanetary disk. The Öberg Astrochemistry group
found Methyl Cyanide (CH3CN), its significance being that it
includes a nitrile group (carbon-nitrogen bond). Nitriles are largely
considered to be a precursor to amino acids and have been implicated in their
synthesis, tying nitriles to the origins of early life on earth. Öberg states
in her C&EN interview that, while they have observed nitriles in space, the
group does not know the exact mechanism by which they form. Once we understand
how they form in space, we will have a better idea of how often they form, thus
giving us a better idea about the likelihood of life on other planets.
So, what’s next for Dr. Öberg? Her lab has received approval to use the James Webb Space Telescope’s IR capabilities to get a better “view” of the area of dust and gas discs where terrestrial planets form, hopefully allowing them to ascertain the missing pieces of the puzzle in understanding the formation of nitriles in space. We can be sure that we will hear more exciting discoveries to come out of her lab in the near future!
Sources:
https://cen.acs.org/physical-chemistry/astrochemistry/Harvard-scientist-uses-astrochemistry-to-understand-the-birth-of-planets/99/i33
https://astronomy.fas.harvard.edu/people/karin-oberg
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