Na'ama Hallakoun

Observational astrophysicist

About me

Na'ama Hallakoun

I am a staff scientist at the Benoziyo Center for Astrophysics of the Weizmann Institute of Science, in Dr. Sagi Ben-Ami's group. I joined the group in 2023 as a postdoctoral fellow and advanced to my current role in 2024. Prior to that, I held a postdoctoral fellowship within the same department under an independent Benoziyo-prize fellowship. I earned my Ph.D. in astrophysics in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Dan Maoz in the Astrophysics Department of Tel-Aviv University. During my Ph.D. I spent a couple of years with an ESO Studentship at the European Southern Observatory headquarters in Garching, Germany. I earned my M.Sc. in physics in 2013 under the supervision of Prof. Lev Vaidman at Tel-Aviv University. I completed my B.Sc. in physics at Tel-Aviv University in 2011, and I received my B.A. in history from The Open University of Israel in 2009. I was one of the organizers of the TAU AstroClub, a volunteer public outreach organization, wrote articles about physics and astrophysics for the Davidson Institute of Science Education, and continue to deliver outreach lectures to both children and adults in Israel and abroad.

My research

My main research interest is white dwarfs and their immediate surroundings. Click here to read more about it, and on some other research topics of mine.

Public outreach

Click here to watch a recording of a public outreach talk I gave (in Hebrew), and to read more about public outreach activities I am involved in.

How to pronounce my name?

My first name (Na'ama נעמה) has three syllables, the stress should be on the last one: "nah-ah-MAH". To pronounce my last name (Hallakoun חלקון) ignore the spelling and just say "hal-KON", this is what I do.