Kerstin Fredga

Kerstin Fredga (16 November 1935 – 24 September 2025) was a Swedish astronomer and spectroheliographer whose research involves the spectra of the sun and other stars. She was the director of the Swedish National Space Agency and president of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Education and career Fredga was born in Stockholm in 1935, one of five children of chemistry professor and his wife, a kindergarten teacher, who encouraged her to pursue her interest in astronomy. In a 2003 interview with a Swedish popular astronomy magazine, she mentioned becoming interested in space and astronomy at 10–12 years old, as a schoolchild in Uppsala. After initially studying maths, physics, theoretical physics and astronomy

Recognition Fredga was elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1978, and later became its president. She was also elected to the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences in 1986, and to the Academia Europaea in 1988.

She was the 1983 recipient of the KTH Great Prize of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, citing "her broad knowledge in astronomy and space physics as well as experiences from American space projects".

She was a recipient of the Order of the Seraphim size 12 ribbon in 1991, awarded by the Swedish Royal Family to "individuals who have performed outstanding acts of a humanitarian nature or of general benefit to society". She also received the French national order of the legion of honour and the order of merit of the federal republic of Germany.