Scotland’s first female astronomer royal looks to open the universe to all

Renowned astrophysicist Prof Catherine Heymans hopes to broaden the appeal of her white male-dominated field

I'm always shocked that it's 2021 and we're still having first female' stories," says Prof Catherine Heymans. Nevertheless, it is an unavoidable fact that, with her appointment two weeks ago, the renowned astrophysicist not only became the first female astronomer royal for Scotland, but also the only woman to have held any of the astronomer royal positions in the UK.

It's very hard to aspire to be something if you can't see someone who looks like you in that job," she says, recalling that she did not encounter her first female physics lecturer, her mentor Katherine Blundell, until she began her PhD.