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Monica Grady

Monica Mary Grady CBE (born 1958) is a leading British space scientist, primarily known for her work on meteorites. Since 2005, she has been Professor of Planetary and Space Science at the Open University, and is currently Head of the Department of Physical Sciences.

Prior to 2005, Grady was based at the Natural History Museum in London, where she curated the UK's national collection of meteorites. She graduated from the University of Durham in 1979, then went on to complete a Ph.D. on carbon in stony meteorites at Darwin College, Cambridge in 1982. Since then, she has built up an international reputation in meteoritics, publishing many papers on the carbon and nitrogen isotope geochemistry of primitive meteorites, on Martian meteorites, and on interstellar components of meteorites. She gave the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures in 2003, on the subject "A Voyage in Space and Time". Asteroid (4731) was named Monicagrady in her honour.

Grady was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2012 Birthday Honours for services to space sciences. She is the first UK scientist to be President of the international Meteoritical Society.

Grady is the oldest of eight children; her youngest sister, Dr Ruth Grady, is a Senior Lecturer in microbiology at the University of Manchester. Grady's husband, Professor Ian Wright is also a meteoriticist.

Space Science Series

Private companies are launching a new space race – here's what to expect

Oct 08, 2017 10:59 am UTC| Insights & Views Business

The space race between the USA and Russia started with a beep from the Sputnik satellite exactly 60 years ago (October 4, 1957) and ended with a handshake in space just 18 years later. The handshake was the start of many...

Space Science Series

Organic molecules found on giant asteroid Ceres – why that's a such a huge deal

Feb 17, 2017 01:59 am UTC| Science

Sometimes, I think scientists are just that little bit too modest. A new paper in Science has a humdinger of a title: Localized aliphatic organic material on the surface of Ceres. It doesnt exactly trip off the tongue and...

What missing lander means for Europe’s quest to find life on Mars

Oct 20, 2016 11:42 am UTC| Science

Researchers at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, had another of those nervous days waiting to hear first from a probe designed to land on Mars surface, and then from the probes orbiting mother...

Crashing space station shows why China must start to collaborate in orbit

Sep 27, 2016 18:19 pm UTC| Science

China launched the second vehicle in its Tiangong (meaning Heavenly palace) programme to construct a space station in early September. Despite the success of the launch, the announcement was overshadowed by the...

Ceres asteroid may have an 'ice volcano' and other signs of water, NASA mission reveals

Sep 03, 2016 10:47 am UTC| Science

The arrival of NASAs Dawn mission at the huge asteroid 1 Ceres in early 2015 has turned out to have been well worth waiting for. This dwarf planet is the largest body in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and was...

Solar storms could solve longstanding paradox of how life on Earth arose

May 23, 2016 16:27 pm UTC| Insights & Views Science

It was only a matter of 700m years or so after Earth formed and its surface cooled and solidified that life began to flourish on Earth. All studies suggest that life requires water and we know from rocks on Earth that the...

Why sailing to the stars has suddenly become a realistic goal

Apr 14, 2016 02:14 am UTC| Science

It takes a bold person to declare that interstellar travel is now within our grasp. Physicist Stephen Hawking has shown that he is just that, taking part in the Breakthrough Starshot initiative. The project has announced a...

Economy

Nigerians throw naira notes around to show love: but it could land you in jail

The legal implication of physically damaging the naira, Nigerias currency, came into focus recently with the prosecution of at least two celebrities by the countrys Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. Nigeria has a...

The US is one of the least trade-oriented countries in the world – despite laying the groundwork for today’s globalized system

Given the spate of news about international trade lately, Americans might be surprised to learn that the U.S. isnt very dependent on it. Indeed, looking at trade as a percentage of gross domestic product a metric...

Beyond the spin, beyond the handouts, here’s how to get a handle on what’s really happening on budget night

Three weeks from now, some of us will be presented with a mountain of budget papers, and just about all of us will get to hear about them on radio, TV or news websites on budget night. The quickest way to find out what...

Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility

Ivan Vladislavić is Johannesburgs literary linkman. He tells us, in the first pages of his new book, The Near North, that before cities were lit, first by gaslight and later electricity, people of means paid torchbearers...

Economist Chris Richardson on an ‘ugly’ inflation result and the coming budget

With Jim Chalmerss third budget on May 14, Australians will be looking for some more cost-of-living relief beyond the tax cuts although they have been warned extra measures will be modest. As this weeks consumer price...

Politics

Sudan’s civil war is rooted in its historical favouritism of Arab and Islamic identity

The current civil war in Sudan goes beyond a simple power struggle between two generals. It reflects a deep-rooted crisis within the countrys governing structure thats been present since it gained independence from the...

South Africa’s youth are a generation lost under democracy – study

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa recently painted a rosy picture in which the countrys youth democracys children had enormous opportunities for advancement, all thanks to successive post-apartheid governments led...

Sadiq Khan on track for third term as London mayor – but nearly half of Londoners dissatisfied with performance

Polls have consistently shown that the incumbent mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, appears to be on track to win a third term in office at the upcoming mayoral elections on May 2. One poll we commissioned as part of our...

The politics stopping the UK from opening a youth mobility scheme with Europe

Earlier this week, it seemed possible that young people in the UK might soon be able to travel freely to work and live in Europe again. The European Commission laid out proposals to open mobility to millions of 18- to...

Biden administration tells employers to stop shackling workers with ‘noncompete agreements’

Most American workers are hired at will: Employers owe their employees nothing in the relationship except earned wages, and employees are at liberty to quit at their option. As the rule is generally stated, either party...

Science

IceCube researchers detect a rare type of energetic neutrino sent from powerful astronomical objects

About a trillion tiny particles called neutrinos pass through you every second. Created during the Big Bang, these relic neutrinos exist throughout the entire universe, but they cant harm you. In fact, only one of them is...

The Mars Sample Return mission has a shaky future, and NASA is calling on private companies for backup

A critical NASA mission in the search for life beyond Earth, Mars Sample Return, is in trouble. Its budget has ballooned from US$5 billion to over $11 billion, and the sample return date may slip from the end of this...

Dark matter: our new experiment aims to turn the ghostly substance into actual light

A ghost is haunting our universe. This has been known in astronomy and cosmology for decades. Observations suggest that about 85% of all the matter in the universe is mysterious and invisible. These two qualities are...

A Nasa rover has reached a promising place to search for fossilised life on Mars

While we go about our daily lives on Earth, a nuclear-powered robot the size of a small car is trundling around Mars looking for fossils. Unlike its predecessor Curiosity, Nasas Perseverance rover is explicitly intended to...

The rising flood of space junk is a risk to us on Earth – and governments are on the hook

A piece of space junk recently crashed through the roof and floor of a mans home in Florida. Nasa later confirmed that the object had come from unwanted hardware released from the international space station. The 700g,...

Technology

Amazon Opens Online Shopping for South African Customers

Amazon has finally arrived in South Africa. With its launch in the region, Jeff Bezos e-commerce platform is expected to compete with the leading local online shopping player, Takealot.com. The American e-commerce giant...

Apple Embarks on AI Chip Development for Data Center Capabilities

Apple Inc. is set to transform the tech landscape with its newly developed AI chip, tailored specifically for data center operations. Dubbed Project ACDC, this initiative marks a significant leap in server technology,...

Kia Drops Images of Its New All-Electric EV3 Model Ahead of Release

Kia Motors announced that its latest electric car model called the EV3, is finally coming to the market this month. Ahead of the release, the South Korean automaker dropped images of the anticipated new EV to tease...

Switch Successor Announcement Expected Before Next April, Nintendo States

Nintendo has stated that it will officially introduce the Switch replacement system within this fiscal year before March 31, 2025. Upcoming Nintendo Direct Focuses on Current Switch Games Nintendo president Shuntaro...

Marathon Digital Soars 18% on News of S&P SmallCap 600 Inclusion

Marathon Digital, a leading Bitcoin miner, is set to join the SP SmallCap 600, propelling its shares up by 18%. Announced to replace Aaon in the index on May 8, the move reflects Marathons growing influence in the...