The Department of Physics and Astronomy Professor Orsola De Marco will be giving a talk on ‘What planets can do to the stars that created them’ at the upcoming Astronomy Open Night. Book your tickets before 4 May, to take advantage of the Early Bird pricing.

Work stuff

I’ve been at Macquarie for…
Nine years!

In a nutshell, my job is to…
Think about how stars live and die, and teach students about it.

The question I hear most often in my work is…
“Oh my god! You are an astrologer!?”

The top three things on my to-do list today are…

• Sail around the world
• Learn carpentry
• Make a tangible difference for female scientists

If I could do any other job at Macquarie (with instant qualifications/knowledge) it would be…
Vice-chancellor. Just kidding. A geologist.

A Macquarie staff member that impressed me last week…
A couple in my department. I am too shy to say who they are.

I get my campus coffee fix from …
Our new, weapons-grade, departmental coffee machine.

Personal life

My ethnic heritage is…
Italian.

My favourite subject at school was…
Physics and Maths. No, really.

Outside work, you’ll often find me…
Working at the Kipling garage bar in Turramurra or on my boat.

If we went to Happy Hour, I would order…
A corona and a martini. Together.

My most treasured memory…
A weekend in Paris with my rowdy children, my two girlfriends and their (somewhat less) rowdy children.

If I could have dinner with anyone (living or dead) it would be…Albert Einstein or Audrey Hepburn… or Peter O’Tool and Umberto Eco and Leo Szilard. My dad. Oh, did I have to choose only one?

My favourite animal and why…
Cat. They do look like they do not care but they do, in all the right ways.

The last great movie I saw was…
Arrival. Can I say another one? OK, no.

In ten years from now, I hope to be…
Far, far less stressed.