Guinevere Alice Mei-Ing Kauffmann is an American astrophysicist.
She studied astronomy at the University of Cape Town

University of Cape Town

The University of Cape Town is a public research university located in Cape Town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. UCT was founded in 1829 as the South African College, and is the oldest university in South Africa and the second oldest extant university in Africa.-History:The roots of...

 until 1990. She finished her Ph.D at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...

 in 1993.
After being employed at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics

The Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Germany.In 1991 the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics split up into the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, the Max Planck Institute for Physics and the...

 and the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics

The Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics is a Max Planck Institute, located in Garching, near Munich, Bavaria, Germany. It was founded as Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics in 1958 and split up into the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics and the Max Planck Institute for Physics...

 she became head of a research team at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics in 2003.

In 2007, she received the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize

The Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize is a research prize awarded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft every year since 1985 to scientists working in Germany. This highest German research prize consists of a research grant of 2.5 million euro, to be used within seven years...

 of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft is an important German research funding organization and the largest such organization in Europe.-Function:...

, which is the highest honour awarded in German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

research. In 2009, she was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences.