While many look at the sky and see stars, Prof. Hiranya Peiris sees the history of time itself. As the Professor of Astrophysics (1909) at the University of Cambridge, Peiris is a world leader in “precision cosmology,” a field she helped move from speculative theory to a data-driven science. Born in Sri Lanka, her academic journey took her from Cambridge to Princeton and Chicago, eventually becoming a pivotal member of NASA’s WMAP science team.