Jessica Mink

Jessica Mink
BornFebruary 1951 (age 74)
Lincoln, Nebraska
NationalityAmerican
Alma materMassachusetts Institute of Technology
Known forDiscovery of rings of Uranus; developing RVSAO and WCSTools, two widely-used astronomy software packages
Scientific career
FieldsPlanetary science and positional astronomy
InstitutionsSmithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Thesis"Determination of Martian Surface Reflectivity from 0.4 to 1.1 Micron Using a Vidicon Spectrometer" (1974)
Websitehttps://www.jessicamink.com/ http://tdc-www.harvard.edu/mink/

Jessica Mink[1] is an American software developer, positional astronomer, and data archivist at the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian.[2] She was part of the team that discovered the rings around the planet Uranus.[3]

Early life and career

Mink was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, in 1951[4] and graduated from Dundee Community High School in 1969. She earned an S.B. degree (1973) and an S.M. degree (1974) in Planetary Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).[5]

Upon rejecting her PhD application, Carl Sagan recommended Mink pursue a job at the Laboratory for Planetary Studies at Cornell University, which she did.[6] She worked there from 1976 to 1979 as an astronomical software developer, under the direction of Jim Elliot.[5][6] It was during this time that she was part of the team that discovered the rings around Uranus.[7] Within the team, she was responsible for the data reduction software and data analysis.[8] After working at Cornell she moved back to MIT with her research group, where she did work that contributed to the discovery of the rings of Neptune.[9] She has written a number of commonly used software packages for astrophysics, including WCSTools and RVSAO.[8][10]

Mink is a member of the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union.[11]

Personal life

Mink is an avid bicycle user and bicycle activist.[12] She has served as an officer and director of the Massachusetts Bicycle Coalition[13] and has been the route planner for the Massachusetts portion of the East Coast Greenway since 1991.

Mink is a transgender woman; she publicly came out in 2011 at the age of 60.[14] She has since spoken out about her experiences transitioning.[15] She was also featured in two articles about the experiences of transitioning in a professional environment.[14][16] She was a co-organizer of the 2015 Inclusive Astronomy conference at Vanderbilt University.[17]

Mink currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts (USA), and has an adult daughter.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Doug to Jessica". Retrieved 2012-12-04.
  2. ^ Craggs, Charlie (2017-10-19). To My Trans Sisters. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. ISBN 9781784506681.
  3. ^ Elliot, J.L.; E. Dunham; D. Mink (1977). "The Rings of Uranus". Nature. 267 (5609): 328–330. Bibcode:1977Natur.267..328E. doi:10.1038/267328a0. S2CID 4194104.
  4. ^ Who's Who in Frontier Science and Technology. 1st ed. 1984-1985. Chicago 1984, p. 512
  5. ^ a b "Jessica D. Mink". tdc-www.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  6. ^ a b c Mink, Jessica (2016-01-13). "Women In Astronomy: Astronomy Without a PhD". Women In Astronomy. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  7. ^ "40 years of Uranus's rings | BBC Sky at Night Magazine". www.skyatnightmagazine.com. Archived from the original on 2019-03-23. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  8. ^ a b Richey, Christina (2016-08-16). "Women In Astronomy: Meet Your CSWA: Jessica Mink". Women In Astronomy. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  9. ^ "Women in Atmospheric Sciences Luncheon". 2018 AMS Annual Meeting. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  10. ^ "IMWCS Image World Coordinate Setting Utility". tdc-www.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  11. ^ "WGLE interviews: Jessica Mink | SGMA". sgma.aas.org. Archived from the original on 2019-03-23. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  12. ^ O’Connor, Brion. "Still on a bike in winter weather". edition.pagesuite.com. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  13. ^ "Jessica Mink, MassPaths Webmistress". March 11, 2012. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  14. ^ a b Clark, Dorie (2015-02-03). "Managing Your Professional Identity During a Gender Change". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  15. ^ Kirkpatrick, Jessica (2014-12-16). "Women In Astronomy: On Being a Transgender Astronomer". Women In Astronomy. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  16. ^ Clark, Dorie (2015-02-05). "What to Do When Your Colleague Comes Out as Transgender". Harvard Business Review. ISSN 0017-8012. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
  17. ^ "Inclusive Astronomy Conference Confronts Diversity Issues". www.aps.org. Retrieved 2019-02-25.
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