Currently a faculty associate of the California Institute of Technology, Inge Juliana Sackmann Christy loves having the opportunity to advance her field. Her main areas of interest include astrophysics, astronomy, and physics, and she has pursued them at a variety of locations for more than five decades. Dr. Sackmann Christy started out as a postdoctoral fellow at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen and the Max-Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics at Max-Planck-Gesellschaft in Germany, and continued on as a research associate for Hamburger Sternwarte in Germany in 1971. She moved to the U.S. that same year, when she joined the California Institute of Technology as a research fellow. She became a research associate at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory between 1974 and 1976, and then returned to the California Institute of Technology as a senior research fellow from 1976 to 1981, when she assumed the position she holds now.
Dr. Sackmann Christy prepared for her endeavors by earning a PhD in astrophysics, a Master of Arts in astronomy, and a Bachelor of Arts in physics from the University of Toronto in 1968, 1965, and 1963, respectively. She continued her education from 1968 to 1970, when she received a postdoctoral fellowship from the National Research Council Canada. As a testament to her hard work and dedication, she was named an Outstanding Scientist of the 20th Century by Personalities of America in 2000, and was granted the Alexander Von-Humbolt Award between 1970 and 1971. Her achievements were highlighted in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in the World, and Who’s Who of American Women.
In Dr. Sackmann Christy’s spare time, she enjoys hobbies like arranging flowers, growing organic gardens, horseback riding, and hiking. She also likes to write. She has published two books about her husband, renowned physicist Robert F. Christy, called, “Achieving the Rare – Robert F. Christy’s Journey in Physics and Beyond,” and “Christy Achieving The Rare,” and has contributed numerous articles to professional journals.
