PENNY SACKETT
Penny Sackett made a name for herself not just on three continents, but in the cosmos, too. A planet — OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb — was discovered in 2005 by a global network of 73 astronomers from 12 countries that Sackett began assembling in the 1990s. At the time the 1978 UNO graduate was in the Netherlands as a faculty member at the Kapteyn Astronomical Institute at the University of Groningen. It was the smallest planet detected outside our own solar system. Sackett in 2002 moved to Australia to become director of the Australian National University (ANU) School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and of the Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories. Six years later she became something of a star herself, being appointed chief scientist for Australia in 2008. Sackett provided independent advice to Australia Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and other government ministers on matters relating to science, technology and innovation until stepping down from the post in 2011. She maintains an adjunct professorship at ANU and is a member of its Climate Change Institute.