Revolutionary Scientist Gone Too Soon

Who was Dr. Beth Brown?

Dr. Beth A. Brown was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1969. Dr. Brown’s curiosity towards space science started at a young age, as when she was little, she loved shows like Star Trek and movie franchises like Star Wars. She knew astronomy was what she wanted to do when she saw the Ring Nebula for the first time during a school field trip.  

Dr. Brown has a long history of academic achievements. In high school she graduated as valedictorian in 1987 and then went to Howard University, a famous HBCU (historically black college/university). She then got her bachelor’s in physics and astronomy in 1991, graduating summa cum laude, and held two NASA internships during her undergraduate years. She then went onto graduate school at the University of Michigan. She got her Master’s in 1994 and her PhD in 1998, both in astronomy. She did her thesis on x-ray emissions from galaxies, which continued to work on after receiving her PhD. When she graduated, she became the first African American woman to get a PhD in astronomy from her university.

 

Research background

After getting her PhD Dr. Brown returned to NASA for her post-doc at the Goddard Space Flight Center as a Research Associate. She helped publish the following articles in topics like X-ray emissions from galaxies and spectroscopy of the Crab Nebula.

·       Brown, Beth A., and Joel N. Bregman. “Emission Mechanisms in X‐ray–Faint Galaxies.” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 547, no. 1, 20 Jan. 2001, pp. 154–161, doi:10.1086/318353.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/31835

•  X-Ray Emission in Early-Type Galaxies Surveyed by ROSAT, Brown, B. A. 1998 Ph.D. Thesis, University of Michigan

·       Brown, Beth A., and Joel N. Bregman. “X-Ray Emission from Early-Type Galaxies: A Complete Sample Observed by ROSAT.” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 495, no. 2, 10 Mar. 1998, doi:10.1086/311223.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/311223

·       Brown, Beth A., and Joel N. Bregman. “X-Ray Emission from Early-Type Galaxies: A Complete Sample Observed by ROSAT.” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 495, no. 2, 10 Mar. 1998, doi:10.1086/311223.

• Brown, B. A. and Bregman, J.N.1998 "X-Ray Emission in Early-Type Galaxies Brown". 1998 Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 189, 90.03
•  MacAlpine, G. M., Lawrence, S. S., and Brown, B. A. Spectroscopy of “Argo-Knots” in the Crab Nebula, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 182, 02.09

·       MacAlpine, Gordon M., et al. “Extraordinary Line-Emitting Knots in the Crab Nebula.” The Astrophysical Journal, vol. 432, Sept. 1994, doi:10.1086/187529.

Her post-doc position turned into a full-time position as an astrophysicist at Goddard’s National Space Science Data Center.

 

Dr. Brown’s Impact on the Science Community

She was also involved in NASA’s Administrator Fellowship Program which is a program created to improve research at HBCUs and allow more faculty to do research with NASA. Through this program Dr. Brown taught at her alma mater and developed a one credit hour course about naked eye astronomy for students with no background in astronomy. She also helped create a website that allowed the public to gain easier access to data and information about the Milky Way Galaxy. Dr. Brown also did interviews on behalf of NASA to further educate the public on various topics about space. In the Nation Society of Black Physicists (NSBP) she served as a mentor to students and was involved in the National Conference of Black Physics Students (NCBPS). Unfortunately, Dr. Brown passed away on October 5, 2008, from a pulmonary embolism at the age of 39. Her advice to students was to make sure they keep a balanced life, lean on your role models/mentors for help, and that it’s never too late to learn physics. Her influence touched many; from the students she taught and mentored to her former colleagues who speak fondly of her.

Dr. Beth Brown, 2008. Credit: Jay S. Friedlander

Fun Facts: 

She originally wanted to be an astronaut but her near sightedness and a dislike of tight spaces lead her reevaluate her choices.

She played the piccolo in the “Showtime” marching band at Howard University.

 

References Cited

Alim, Mohammad. “The NASA Administrator’s Fellowship Program (Nafp): Benefits to the Hbcus/MIS.” ASEE PEER Document Repository, 10 Mar. 2015, strategy.asee.org/the-nasa-administrator-s-fellowship-program-nafp-benefits-to-the-hbcus-mis#:~:text=The%20NASA%20Administrator%E2%80%99s%20Fellowship%20Program%20%28NAFP%29%20is%20for,has%20been%20in%20existence%20for%20over%20a%20decade. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

“Beth Brown.” American Physical Society, www.aps.org/careers/profiles/beth-brown. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

Garat, Sarah. “Beth A. Brown (1969-2008) .” Black Past, 17 July 2022, www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/beth-a-brown-1969-2008/. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

Kea, Howard E. “Women In Astronomy 2009 - A Tribute to Dr. Beth Brown.” NASA, Jan. 2009, attic.gsfc.nasa.gov/wia2009/Dr_Beth_Brown_tribute.html. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

“The Schools’ Observatory.” Beth A. Brown | The Schools’ Observatory, www.schoolsobservatory.org/careers/interested/stargazing/beth-brown. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.

William, Scott. Beth Brown - Astronomer of the African Diaspora, Astronomers of the African Diaspora, 1998, www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/physics/brown_betha.html. Accessed 18 Sept. 2024.