Dr. Victoria Grinberg

astrophysicist

I am an astrophysicist and liaison scientist with the Science Division at the European Space Agency (ESA) based at ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.

Previously, I was a a junior research group leader at the University of Tübingen, Germany, where parts of my research group are still based. Prior to that, I held a postdoctoral reseach fellowship at ESA/ESTEC (2017-2018) and was a postdoc at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge/Boston, MA, USA (2014-2016). I did my PhD at the Remeis Observatory, Bamberg and the Erlangen Centre for Astroparticle Physics (ECAP) and my diploma at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, both in Germany.

I'm passionate about public outreach (in English and German) and make scientific illustrations, some of which have been published. For a full professional CV, please get in touch with me directly.

Research

My main scientific interest are two of the most extreme environments in our universe: the vicinity of accreting black holes and neutron stars and the winds of the massive supergiant stars. To study them, I mainly use space-based observations of X-ray binaries, i.e., binary systems consisting of a compact object (black hole or neutron star) and a normal companion star. I am also developing analysis tools and contributing to the instrumentation for (space-based) X-ray telescopes. I'm co-organizing the X-Wind collaboration that brings together X-ray astronomy and stellar wind theory.

You can find my academic pulications on ADS: all & refereed.

I am interested in intersection of astronomy and climate science in the times of climate crisis and am part of the core team of Astronomers for Planet Earth. I have contributed to the assessment of the climate impact of large astronomy meetings (see this Nature Astronomy publication). I further have a keen interest in the issues of women in STEM and in the intersection of art, language+literature, and science.

Research Group

Current members
  • Menglei Zhou, PhD candidate, Tübingen
  • Luis Abalo Rodríguez, PhD candidate, Leiden
  • Kostas Tsalapatas, Master thesis student, Leiden
Some former members
Want to join us?
Research visitors

I am glad to host visitors. In the past, I hosted visitors financed through the ESA Archival Research Visitor Programme or the AHEAD2020, but please also check other programmes offered by your institution or country.

Teaching

University lectures
  • End Points of Stellar Evolution [master level lecture, Universität Tübingen]
  • Observational astronomy [PhD level compact lecture, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology]
  • Introduction to Astronomy & Astrophysics [bachelor & master level lecture, Universität Tübingen]
  • Modern topics in Astronomy & Astrophysics [master level seminar, Universität Tübingen]
Summer school & professional workshop topics
  • Introduction & advanced topics for X-ray data analysis with the Interactive Spectral Interpretation System (ISIS)
  • High resolution X-ray spectroscopy
  • High mass X-ray binaries
  • Introduction to X-ray binaries

Science Outreach / Wissenschaftskommunikation

I usually do about 10 events a year, in both English and German, aimed at different audiences including public talks in planetaria, Astronomy on Tap events, science festivals, art & science collaboration events, etc.

Public talk topics [English]
  • Black Holes and Neutron Stars
  • X-ray astronomy
  • Seeing black holes through X-ray eyes [Astronomy on Tap Leiden]
  • Astronomy & climate crisis
  • Communicating science through art - the perspective of a scientist artist
Vortragsthemen [Deutsch]
Publications
  • "Schwarze Löcher: Von den Grundlagen zur Astrophysik", Astronomie + Raumfahrt Nr. 4/2021 [German astronomy didactics magazine]
I'm always glad to discuss further outreach possibilities!

Contact

Dr. Victoria Grinberg
ESA/ESTEC
Keplerlaan 1
2201 AZ Noordwijk
The Netherlands

Email victoria.grinberg [at] esa.int
Mastodon @vicgrinberg@mastodon.social