Celebrated physicist Dr Helen Mason has been made an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours.
Celebrated physicist Dr Helen Mason has been made an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours.
Dr Mason, 64, from Wilburton, joined the University of Cambridge in 1978 and, in more than 35 years of work and study, has become a leading light in the world of astrophysics.
She is a fellow of both the Royal Astronomical Society and St Edmund’s College, Cambridge, and was awarded the 2010 Women of Outstanding Achievement award in recognition of her work in science.
Dr Mason is also passionate about education and visits schools across Cambridgeshire to demonstrate her work, studying the sun, to students.
She has been made an OBE for services to higher education and to women in science, engineering and technology.
Dr Mason a mother of two, admitted she was worried when she first received the letter from the Cabinet Office informing her of her honour.
She said: “When I first saw it I was a bit worried and thought ‘this is a bit odd’, but I was delighted and very surprised when I read it. It was a bit of a shock.”
She added that keeping news of her honour secret had proved particularly hard, with nobody from her family aware she had been made an OBE until it was officially published in the London Gazette on Saturday.
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