Michelle Thaller

Michelle Thaller is an American astronomer, research scientist, and science communicator. Thaller is formerly the Assistant Director for Science Communication at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.^[3] She retired in 2024 after 27 years at NASA.^[4]

Dr Michelle Thaller
Born	Waukesha, Wisconsin, U.S.
Education	BS 1992, PhD 1998
Alma mater	Harvard University Georgia State University
Spouse	Andrew Booth (2000–2020)[1][2]

From 1998 to 2009 she was a staff scientist at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, and later Manager of the Education and Public Outreach program for the Spitzer Space Telescope, at the California Institute of Technology.^[5] She is a frequent on-camera contributor to programming on The History Channel and Science Channel.

Background

A native of Wisconsin,^[6] Thaller graduated from Waukesha South High School in 1988.^[7] She attended Harvard University, where she majored in astrophysics and worked on precision measurement of binary stars, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1992. At Georgia State University Thaller worked on colliding winds in close massive binary systems. She received a PhD in 1998.^[5][8]

Thaller is a regular contributor to the online edition of the Christian Science Monitor, for which she writes a monthly science column,^[6][8] and appears on the History Channel show, The Universe, and The Science Channel series How the Universe Works, Strip the Cosmos, and The Planets and Beyond. In 2016 and 2017 Thaller authored and hosted the PRX/Sky & Telescope Orbital Path Podcasts series,^[9] and in 2008 contributed to and appeared in the NASA Spitzer Space Telescope's award-winning video podcast series IRrelevant Astronomy.^[10]

Personal life

Michelle Thaller married fellow astronomer Andrew Booth on September 8, 2000, in Scotland.^[11] Andrew, a tenured professor at the University of Sydney, moved from Australia to be with Michelle in Pasadena, California during her post-doc. Andrew died in 2020 due to a rare form of brain cancer.^[12]