To Shoot for the Stars

Astronomer Heidi B. Hammel, 47, studies outer planets (right now, she's focusing on Uranus). She's also helping to build the next big space telescope after Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled to launch in 2013. Hammel telecommutes to her job as senior research scientist at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo., from her home in Connecticut, where she and her husband are raising their three children. She spoke to NEWSWEEK'S Barbara Kantrowitz.

When did you first study stars?
My parents used to do a lot of road trips and I got very carsick. To distract myself, especially at night, I stared out the window and started recognizing patterns in the sky. I learned the constellations because it helped get my mind off the fact that I felt absolutely awful in the car. I have talked with kids who know they want to be astronomers. I never had any self-knowledge like that. I spent far more time playing Monopoly or card games or riding a bike than anything science-related.

So how did you end up at MIT?
A math teacher encouraged me to apply and I remember saying, "What is MIT?" I went to my chemistry teacher for a letter of recommendation and he said, "No, you'll never get in." When I came back with my acceptance letter, he said, "That's only because you're a woman. They have quotas to fill." This was in 1978, so people were a little less enlightened.

How did you find your calling at MIT?
I struggled so hard. Nobody seemed to be working as hard as I did and they were getting much better grades. I was not a very happy person there. I learned how to work hard and how to cope with failure. I learned you couldn't let things get you down. If you persevere, the rewards will come later on.

Astronomy was an elective that I had to fill in my sophomore year. I remember walking into the class and there were four people: two guys who were graduate students, a guy who was a senior, and then me. I did feel out of place—not only my gender but also that everyone else was older. But the professor worked really hard to keep me in the class. The next year he asked me to help teach the course and I started working in his laboratory. I really enjoyed it.

I did well enough to go on to graduate school, and I was very fortunate to be in graduate school in Hawaii at the time that they were building these fabulous new telescopes. A lot of being successful is being in the right place at the right time but also being willing to take a chance. For me, going out to Hawaii was taking a chance. I had never been there and I just got a one-way ticket and went.