Giuseppina (Pepi) Fabbiano

Giuseppina (Pepi) Fabbiano is a Senior Astrophysicist at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge MA), which she joined in 1975. A native of Italy, she has worked in X-ray Astronomy since obtaining her Doctorate in Physics from the University of Palermo (Italy) in 1973. She has been instrumental in establishing the field of X-ray studies of galaxies. Over the years, she has studied the different components of the X-ray emission of the Milky Way and external galaxies, including neutron stars and black holes in binary systems, supernova remnants, the hot interstellar medium and nuclear massive black holes. She uses X-ray observations, together with data throughout the observable spectrum, to investigate the joint evolution of galaxies and black holes in the universe. She is the author of over 700 publications, including 274 refereed papers in major scientific journals. She has written two invited reviews in the Annual Review of Astronomy and Astrophysics, and several reviews and book contributions.

Throughout her career, Fabbiano has been involved in the operations and data management of major NASA X-ray observatories, and is presently the Head of the Chandra X-ray Observatory Data Systems Division. She has served in several national and international scientific and data management committees. She is a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and an elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She is a member of the executive committee of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA), an organization whose purpose is to foster standards for data interoperability throughout astronomy.