![]() ![]() It was only a few months after my graduation in 1995 that the first exoplanet was discovered. “When I was a student at Brandeis, exoplanets hadn’t been discovered yet. To date, scientists have identified and confirmed the existence of over 4,400 exoplanets, but this number is expected to be in the tens of thousands within the decade. The most likely candidates are planets orbiting their stars at a distance that makes the temperature range on the planet suitable for liquid water to exist. Scientists are especially interested in finding planets that could potentially sustain life. Because they orbit other stars, they are much too far away to send space probes to explore directly. Zimmerman-Brachman now spends much of her time coordinating the Exoplanet Watch citizen science project.Įxoplanets, short for extrasolar planets, are planets beyond our solar system. She then moved to California to work as a public engagement specialist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, where she spent 11 years working on the Cassini mission to Saturn. She worked on the Space Vision System for the International Space Station at the Canadian Space Agency near Montreal, Quebec. Blissymbols are still in use today.Īfter graduating from Brandeis with a degree in physics and receiving a master's degree in space studies from the International Space University in Strasbourg, France, she applied several times to become an astronaut. ![]() The device enables non-speaking people to use a touchpad to select symbols that are then translated into written text and printed on paper. When she was 12, she invented the Blissymbol Printer for her seventh grade science fair project. “I have always loved space, and I love sharing my knowledge about the planets with students and the public,” she said. “Space education and outreach is all about getting other people excited about science and space,” Zimmerman-Brachman said.
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