About me

Mathematics is a universal language, but only a few can speak it. Visualisation is a universal language and everyone speaks it.

(From one of the propositions accompanying my PhD thesis) 

My name is Maria Cristina and after a long education in physics and astronomy, I decided to focus more on illustration. My main interest is using an artistic approach to communicate science. I strongly believe that images are powerful tools that simplify concepts, making them comprehendible to everyone.

A little about me: I studied at the University of Milano-Bicocca, where I received my bachelor’s degree in physics with a thesis on active galactic nuclei, followed by a master’s degree in astrophysics and space physics, with a master’s thesis in cosmology titled "Constraining the Halo Occupation Distribution by combining galaxy surveys and numerical simulations”.

I got my PhD from Leiden Observatory, supervised by Prof.dr. Henk Hoekstra. During my PhD, I joined the weak lensing group at the Observatory and several international collaborations. My research mainly focused on the intrinsic alignment of galaxies -- i.e. the tendency of galaxies to show a coherent orientation in the sky -- using both modelling and observational approaches. I defended in 2021 with a thesis titled "Galaxy alignments from multiple angles".

After my PhD, I attended a year-long course in digital illustration at Scuola Internazionale di Comics, an Academy of Visual Arts and New Media, and I graduated in October 2022.

Since January 2023, I am attending a Master in Editorial Illustration at the same school, while working as a frelance illustrator.