The Rastafarian reggae singer and astronomer Lorena Hernandez-Garcia -artistically known as Sistah Lore– She was one of two winners of the prestigious award For Women in Science 2025, an award granted by L'oreal Group and UNESCO, with the support of the National Research and Development Agency (Ancient).
This is an award that recognizes female talent in the national scientific field by promoting doctoral and postdoctoral research with a cash prize of 8 millions of pesos freely available to continue promoting their careers.
Hernandez-Garcia, who is pursuing a postdoctoral degree at the Institute of Physics and Astronomy of the University of Valparaíso (UV) and already has a doctorate from the University of Granada (Spain), He received the distinction for his work in the study of Active Nuclei of Galaxies (AGN) and in the management of large volumes of data.
Your project seeks build the first open catalog on the variability of active galaxy nuclei (areas of the universe where there are supermassive black holes with activity), from data collected at multiple frequencies.
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International recognition
In addition to his scientific work, The Spanish woman living in Chile has been recognized for her ability to bring astronomy closer to citizens.
some years ago, with his team, detected in real time an unusual X-ray signal coming from the center of a distant galaxy, possibly associated with the “awakening” of a black hole or a rare transient event, what became international news.
This earned him transversal recognition and his work was highlighted by organizations such as NASA and ESA..
On the other hand, the engineer Fiorella Roco, PhD student in Industrial Civil Engineering at the Catholic University of Maule (UCM), won the award in the doctorate category.
His research focuses on the study of High Entropy Alloys (in HEA), that seeks to develop more resistant and efficient materials, applicable in key industries for Chile such as mining, energy or health.
A total of 83 women with doctoral and postdoctoral research at various universities in the country applied for this award.
