Google Doodle celebrates Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack

Google Doodle celebrated Italian astrophysicist Margherita Hack with an animated graphic. Margherita Hack was born on June 12, 1922.

Google Doodle celebrated Italian astrophysicist and scientific disseminator Margherita Hack with an animated graphic on her birth anniversary on Saturday, June 12. Today would have been her 99th birthday. Margherita discovered asteroid 8558 Hack in 1995, which was named after her. The doodle shows Hack sitting on her chair and looking into her telescope. Margherita Hack was born on June 12, 1922, in Florence to Roberto Hack, who was a bookkeeper, and Maria Luisa Poggesi. Hack was full professor of astronomy at the University of Trieste from 1964 to 1992. She was also the first Italian woman to administrate the Trieste Astronomical Observatory from 1964 to 1987. Hack had also worked at many American and European observatories and was also a member of working groups of European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA. Hack had several original papers published in international journals and books on astronomy. In 1994, Margherita Hack was awarded the Targa Giuseppe Piazzi for her scientific research. She received Cortina Ulisse Prize for scientific dissemination 1995. She was conferred the title of Dama di Gran Croce, the highest award given by the Italian government, at 90.