Galaxies and goals: The dual passions of astronomer-turned-author Emily Deibert

Emily’s new children’s book Bea Mullins Takes a Shot comes out in February 2025.

Emily Deibert (BSc 2017 VIC, DPhil 2022) will soon be able to add “published children’s author with a book about hockey” to a resume that already includes “astronomer” and “prolific researcher” – and in part, she has Arts & Science to thank.

“I owe a lot to U of T,” says Deibert, who earned her honours bachelor of science degree in 2017 as a member of Victoria College – where she participated in VicOne, a program of seminar-style, small classes in different streams for first-year students. She was in the Frye stream, where students explore a far-reaching range of thought in the humanities and the arts.

Deibert majored in English until she took Astronomy 101 with professors Chris Matzner and Michael Reid. During those lectures she discovered her two passions have overlapping orbits.

“My whole life I wanted to be a writer and I thought studying astronomy would help inform science fiction writing,” says Deibert, who credits supportive faculty and staff for the smooth academic transition.

Deibert thrived in the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. The Summer Undergraduate Research Program enabled her to get experience with scientific data before she pursued her PhD studying the atmospheres of exoplanets – planets outside Earth’s solar system.

For her graduate work, Deibert won the Arts & Science Doctoral Excellence Scholarship, an award given annually in recognition of academic excellence, quality of research and publications, as well as leadership and contributions beyond the university. She was also the recipient of the NSERC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship in 2019.

"I was so lucky to get the Vanier scholarship,” she says. “It meant I didn’t have to worry so much about the cost of living in Toronto and it gave me the freedom to focus on my studies.”

Deibert also kept up her writing exploits, penning regular science columns for The Varsity and writing articles for Research2Reality.

After earning her PhD in 2022, Deibert became a science fellow at the prestigious International Gemini Observatory in Chile. She uses innovative technology, like the Gemini High-resolution Optical SpecTrograph, nicknamed GHOST. Partly funded by the Canadian government, the new instrument delivers the most accurate readings we have ever had of the chemical compositions surrounding a planet.

By analyzing the amount and characteristics of these elements, Deibert can infer things like temperature and wind patterns. The information can help scientists decide where to send the next exploratory probe or help to find an exoplanet with Earth-like conditions.

Deibert hasn’t found any exoplanets capable of harbouring life – yet. But she has identified iron and calcium in the air of some exoplanets. To quantify how fantastical a notion that is, consider that iron doesn’t become a gas on Earth until it reaches 2,800 degrees C.

Astronomer by night, author by day

Deibert always loved the idea of becoming a writer. Her father, U of T Professor Ron Deibert from the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, nurtured her love of literature. She remembers running her finger along the spines of sci-fi classics on her dad’s bookshelf. Maybe her name would sit beside them one day, she thought.

Years later, during her PhD, the hockey-loving Deibert was skating laps at College Park when inspiration struck for her first children’s book.

In Bea Mullins Takes a Shot, Deibert shares the story of a young girl forced to join her school’s ice hockey team as an academic requirement. The story’s main hero, who identifies as queer, learns to play hockey and be her authentic self.

“I’ve played on a lot of women’s hockey teams and I’ve always found them to be very welcoming places for all sorts of people,” says Deibert. “I wanted to portray my own experiences in this book.”

The story takes place in Toronto and rewards local readers with many references to the city. Deibert says editing the book from Chile has helped a lot with her homesickness.

Deibert also thinks the book’s release coincides with an exciting new era of women’s hockey, punctuated by this past year's inaugural season of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

“When I started writing this book, most women at the professional level were not making a living salary. Women’s hockey just wasn’t respected the same way but that’s changing fast.”

Bea Mullins Takes a Shot is being published by Random House Books for Young Readers and will be available on February 25, 2025.

Originally published by Faculty of Arts & Science