About me

I am Maria Hammerstrøm from Oslo, Norway. I am a graphic designer turned astrophysicist turned science communicator. I am passionate about astrophysics, design, writing, and science communication.

​I have an astronomy blog in Norwegian. 

Work Experience

​2017–current Norwegian contact person & translator (part-time) (European Southern Observatory)
I am responsible for the Norwegian ESO website. I translate ESO's astronomy news to Norwegian and function as a contact person for ESO Norway.

2017–current Space Columnist (Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet)

2016–current Translator & Astronomy Consultant (part-time) (Norwegian magazine Ny Vitenskap)
Using my scientific background and love for language and grammar, I do translation and consulting work for the Norwegian science magazine Ny Vitenskap (eng. New Science).

2016–current Project Coordinator (part-time) (Norwegian Language Council)
I am coordinating a two-year project where the aim is to create an online Norwegian-English Astronomical dictionary for the Norwegian Language Council's terminology database.

2016–current Managing editor (part-time) (Norwegian physics magazine Fra Fysikkens Verden)

2015–current Graphic Designer (part-time) (The Science Library, University of Oslo, Norway)
I design posters and info screens for all the events at the Science Library, typically popular science talks. The job lets me combine my love for science and graphic design, and hopefully create more interest in the events.

2014 Webmaster (part-time/temporary) (Faculty of Mathematics & Natural Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway)

2011–2012 Graphic Designer (Melkeveien Designkontor, Oslo, Norway)

2011 Graphic Designer (Tank Design, Oslo, Norway)
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2009–2010 Graphic Designer (Studio 3, Oslo, Norway)

Education

2015–2017 Master in Astrophysics (University of Oslo)
Subjects covered: Radiative Processes in Astrophysics, Cosmology & Extragalactic Astronomy, Computational Physics, Cosmology II, Statistical Methods & Applications, Science Communication & Journalism.
Master thesis: Establishing the host galaxy contribution to spectroscopic data of the nuclear emission of active galactic nuclei

2012–2015 Bachelor of Science, Astrophysics (University of Oslo)
Subjects covered: Calculus, Vector Calculus, Linear Algebra, Scientific Programming with Python, Classical Mechanics, Electrodynamics, Introduction to Astrophysics, Electromagnetism, Waves & Oscillations, Quantum Physics, Observational Astronomy, Thermodynamics & Statistical Physics, Introduction to Applied Statistics, Cosmology I, Astrophysical Plasma & the Interior of Stars.

2007–2010 Diploma in Graphic Design (Westerdals School of Communication)
Subjects covered: Typography, Branding, Packaging, Editorial, Illustration, Presentation.

Research Experience

2015 Student Fellowship in Observational Astronomy (Australian Astronomical Observatory)
I spent two months at the AAO involved with the Huntsman Telephoto Array project, a project currently in development that will use an array of commercially available Canon lenses to observe faint structures, such as dwarf galaxies. I did the ground work on a numerical code to model light pollution projected onto the night sky using satellite data, later to be subtracted from astronomy images to better see those faint structures. I also designed a logo for the Huntsman Telephoto Array.

2014 Summer Program in Observational Astronomy (Mount Wilson Observatory)
The 2-week program was divided into two parts: The first week we learned different observational techniques (photometry, spectroscopy, imaging) and got to see a variety of day time and night time telescopes at Mount Wilson Observatory. The second week we did a research project of our own, using a 16” telescope.
Research project: I photographed galaxy M31, as well as a range of star types to make my own color index so I could determine which star populations are present in M31. Read more on the Astrophysics page.

Internships

​2014 Graphic Designer & Science Writer (Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, Norway)
I spend the summer working with the webmaster at the institute. My job was mainly to help maintaining and adding new content to the website. The website contains, among other things, educational pages about the universe, the solar system and space exploration that were lacking in content. I wrote long introductory articles about the universe, galaxies and space exploration, as well as in-depth articles about the exploration of the Moon and several of the planets for these pages, as well as news articles for the website about new research results achieved, as well as goings-on at the institute (all in Norwegian).

2013 Graphic Designer & Science Writer (EU Universe Awareness, Leiden, The Netherlands)
At EU-UNAWE I was writing and designing educational resources about astronomy for kids, covering subjects such as black holes, the Earth and amateur astronomy. Afterwards I have been translating their Space Scoops (space news for kids) into Norwegian and will hopefully do more projects with them in the future.

2011 Graphic Designer (Proverb, Boston, U.S.)

2009 Graphic Designer (Mission Design, Oslo, Norway)

2008 Graphic Designer (Tank Design, Oslo, Norway)

Software Skills

Programming: Python**,C++**, IDL**, MATLAB*, Fortran*, R*, Minitab*, HTML*, CSS*
Office: Word*, PowerPoint*, Excel*
Design: InDesign**, Photoshop*, Illustrator*, iBooks Author*
Other: LaTex**

* Beginner
** Intermediate
Main image: Aurora Borealis over Norway (source). Aurorae, or Northern Lights, are caused by cosmic rays, solar wind and magnetospheric plasma interacting with the upper atmosphere. This phenomenon is also observed on Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, as well as on several moons.