Turkish astrophysicist Dr.Burçin Mutlu -Pakdil completed her Bachelor degree at Bilkent University in 2009. Through her passion for astronomy from a young age, she received her doctorate in Astrophysics from the University of Minnesota.
Pakdil, who made the definition of a ring-shaped elliptical galaxy for the first time with her work in 2017, made a tremendous impact in the world press with this study. It is also known that the Turkish astrophysicist, whose statue is exhibited among the 10 most important scientists in the world, took an active part in various platforms to pave the way for women in the world of science.
She tries to understand how the universe came to be by examining the structures of galaxies, black holes, and the evolution of the galaxies in which they are located. With her work in 2017, she defined an elliptical galaxy located 359 million light-years from Earth with a double ring structure for the first time. The galaxy known as the 'PGC 1000714' catalog number, is also known as the 'Burçin's Galaxy'. This work has received great interest in the world press. She was among the ten most successful young people in the world in 2018, in addition to the many prestigious awards she received for her work.
Her name has been featured in National Geographic as a “woman of impact”. She was selected as a TED Fellow in 2018 which only 20 people were invited all over the world and also TED Senior Fellow in 2020. Her TED talk has been viewed over two million times. She is now continuing her work on antagonists as an NSF and KICP Fellow at the University of Chicago.
Astrophysicist Burçin Mutlu Pakdil's statue is among the sculptures representing the world's 10 most important female scientists at the Dallas NorthPark Center.
She also named an AAAS IF/THEN Ambassador which is starting out with the slogan "IF she can see it ... THEN she can be it", the STEM platform emphasizes the existence of male domination in many sculptures in the world, and honors women who have been successful in many fields such as science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and their stories. In this way, it will enable young women to be recognized as role models for how successful they can be if they wish.
“You might not get the result you want on the first try. Every time you fail, you get up and try again, and then eventually, you get there.”