Margherita Hack (12 June 1922 - 29 June 2013) was an Italian astrophysicist and popular science writer. The asteroid 8558 Hack, discovered in 1995, was named in her honor.

Biography

Born in Florence, she received her laurea in Physics from the University of Florence, in 1945, with a thesis in Astrophysics on Cepheid variables, after studies made in the Arcetri Observatory. She was full Professor of Astronomy from 1964 to 1997 at the University of Trieste; she retired in 1998.

She administered the Trieste Astronomical Observatory from 1964 to 1987.

She was a member of several Physics and Astronomy associations, and was director of the Astronomy Department at the University of Trieste from 1985 to 1991 and from 1994 to 1997. She was a member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei and of the Italian Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics.

In Italy, she was specially known for her rational atheistic views and her continual criticism of the Catholic Church and of its hierarchy and institutions.

She was a vegetarian and has written a book explaining this choice entitled Perché Sono Vegetariana.

Hack died in Trieste on 29 June 2013 at the age of 91, after being hospitalized for a week for undisclosed reasons.