Growing up in Morgantown , Kim Weaver was fascinated by books with pictures of galaxies, stars and planets. The 1987 West Virginia University graduate, now an astrophysicist, will return to her hometown to give a public lecture in her field at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 29, in 259 Hodges Hall on WVU ’s Downtown Campus.
Her talk,Almost Heaven: Revealing the Beauty and Excitement of the Cosmos Through Modern Astronomy,will compare visible, x-ray, infrared and radio images to show how today’s astronomers use the all-wavelength approach to study space.
Weaver, who works for the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt , Md. , recently publishedThe Violent Universe: Joyrides Through the X-Ray Cosmos.
The book is geared to any person with an interest in astronomy.
I really wanted to help inspire peoplekids especiallyand show them what astronomy is all about,Weaver said.
While at WVU , Weaver was the field conductor of the Mountaineer Marching Band while earning a degree in physics. She began studying astronomy at the University of Maryland and discovered x-ray astronomy as a graduate student while working summers at NASA ’s Goddard Space Flight Center . She received a doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1993 and in 1996, won a NASA Presidential Early Career Award to pursue scientific research in x-ray astronomy.
She recalled recently an article that appeared in The Dominion Post, after her graduation from University High School , quoting her aspirations to become an astrophysicist.
I remember people at the time making fun of me and not believing it,Weaver said.Today I am a NASA astrophysicist regularly quoted on topics from black holes to gamma-ray bursts.
Weaver believes her accomplishments prove you can be anything you wantno matter where you come from or what schools you attend.
This is an important message for young people growing up in West Virginia ,she said.
Weaver’s lectureand inspirational storyis sponsored by the WVU Physics Department in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. A book-signing will follow.
The lecture is free and open to the public. She will also deliver a technical lecture at 4 p.m. March 30 as part of the Physics department colloquia.
Her parents, Kenna and Patricia Weaver, still reside in Morgantown.