Nasa's new science chief says 'it's the best job on the planet'
NASA/Aubrey Gemignani
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Dr Nicola Fox, started working for NASA in 2018 and started her new role on 27 February
The first woman to become Nasa's head of science has said "it's the best job on the planet".
Dr Nicola Fox, its former director of Heliophysics, comes from Hertfordshire and now works in Washington, USA.
"It's the role of a lifetime, I could not be more excited", she added.
She said growing up in Hitchin "you don't really dream of working for Nasa, it certainly doesn't seem like it's something that could be a reality.
"I pop out of bed at 04:30 every morning really energised to come to work." she told Simon Jack on the
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Hitchin, a Hertfordshire commuter market town, has a population of about 33,500 people
Dr Fox started her career with NASA in 2018, in the Heliophysics Division, overseeing the agency's efforts to study the Sun and how its constant solar wind affects Earth and other planets.
She said it was a bit of "luck" that got her to Nasa.
"I was at a meeting when I was doing my post graduate work at Imperial College [London] and I went to a meeting in Alaska and I was talking very excitedly about my work and a scientist basically said 'could I interest you in a post doc at Nasa?'
"People say you always have these pivotal moments in your life, that was the pivotal moment and I said 'yes actually I would'.
"Whatever you're interested in, whatever your heart tells you you're interested in - that's what you should do."
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Monday, March 6, 2023 at 6:05 am