Karlie Alinta Noon is the first Indigenous Australian woman to graduate with a double degree in maths and physics;[1] she is an astronomer, multiple award winner, 2019 Eureka Prize nominee, and one of the 2017 BBC's 100 Women.
[3] Noon was raised in Coledale, a suburb of Tamworth, the country music centre of Australia, with a significant disparity between people of different economic classes.
She describes her "terrible attendance rate" at high school, and succeeding in science due to tutoring and the help of a mentor.
[5] Support and encouragement from her close family, and in particular her grandmother, allowed her to have the confidence to seek a career in science.
[11] Noon has a history of science communication, hoping to open the door to STEM for people from minorities.