A scene from The Lion King
Pumbaa : Timon, ever wonder what those sparkly dots are up there?
Timon : Pumbaa, I don't wonder; I know.
Pumbaa : Oh. What are they?
Timon : They're fireflies. Fireflies that, uh... got stuck up in that big bluish-black thing.
Pumbaa : Oh, gee. I always thought they were balls of gas burning billions of miles away.
Timon : Pumbaa, with you, everything's gas.
Recently, one of my colleagues was describing a camping trip at an African wildlife national park. I asked him to describe how beautiful the skies looked at night and he said with unwavering conviction that it was so magical that he even saw the light from the heavens shining down upon Earth.
Like Timon, Pumbaa and my colleague, everyone has their own interpretation for explaining the phenomenon that is the Universe. Even the world's popular religions have taken a stab at trying to explain our connection to the Universe. Every time I look up at the starry skies or stargaze through a telescope, I feel humbled by how insignificant and small I am in comparison to what lies beyond our field of vision, our current understanding of the Universe, the facts yet to be uncovered and the limits of our imagination.
We humans are curious creatures burning with the desire to make sense of our surroundings. Century after century of this type of curiosity about the objects in the sky coupled with the collective wisdom of many Astronomers, Scientists, Physicists, Mathematicians, Astronomy today is a mind-boggling branch of Science that never ceases to amaze me.
The infographic below sums up the milestones in the history of Astronomy quite nicely.
The infographic below sums up the milestones in the history of Astronomy quite nicely.
As I was sweeping through my Facebook news feed one day, I came to know of the visit of a famous Astrophysicist to Singapore (yes, the news feed does have its useful purposes). He was none other than the famous and charismatic Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson on a publicity tour with Ann Druyan, the wife of the late Carl Sagan to promote the upcoming TV series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey.
So on Valentine's day, I asked permission from my boss to have an extended lunch break to attend this event at my old university (I called in advance to check if they allowed alumni since the advertisement said students and staff only). My boss still suspects that I went on a Valentine's day lunch date with a guy, which was fine by me since it saved me the trouble of having to give a lengthy explanation of my fascination with Astronomy, a biography of the two distinguished guests and an introduction to the new TV series. I am still working on being chatty with my friendly boss who I thought was very kind to let me off during office hours, while turning down my offer to work late to make up for it. He asked a couple of indirect questions to determine where I might be going on my lunch break, none of which was a simple and direct "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, SHU?", so I missed that train of opportunity to give a fair explanation of my plans for the day. Sigh.
At the university, in my old faculty, hit by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and hunger pangs, I queued with many others to wait to get into the lecture hall. There was no time for lunch that day so I had to do with a tiny pack of chips. I found a nice spot in the centre of the hall and watched as the venue fill up until it could hold no more people. One of my old lecturers from an Astronomy-related module I did with much enthusiasm was also scurrying about the hall. I also noticed that compared to university students (which I was about 7-10 years ago), I was much better dressed now and ate less junk food and sweets in wrappers.
When it was nearly time for his arrival, I was feeling very excited and jittery, much like a child waiting for the starting act of a circus show. He was late though and the prolonged effect of adrenaline on a starved stomach was not exactly nice! But eventually, he arrived amidst the cheers and applause after we were treated to the season premiere of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey which airs in March. I was blown away by the visual effects and content that I had goose bumps for most of time and now I can't wait to catch it on TV in March. Perhaps I'll also try to dig up the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage series done by Carl Sagan in the 1980's.
Dr Tyson was so likeable and had the audience cheering and applauding ever so often! He was very friendly, extremely funny, intelligent and accomplished with stellar qualifications, yet there was no air of arrogance or superiority about him. He answered every question (the seemingly silly and the intelligent ones) from the students with the same enthusiasm and humour to impart whatever knowledge he had on the subject in the most understandable terms.
So on Valentine's day, I asked permission from my boss to have an extended lunch break to attend this event at my old university (I called in advance to check if they allowed alumni since the advertisement said students and staff only). My boss still suspects that I went on a Valentine's day lunch date with a guy, which was fine by me since it saved me the trouble of having to give a lengthy explanation of my fascination with Astronomy, a biography of the two distinguished guests and an introduction to the new TV series. I am still working on being chatty with my friendly boss who I thought was very kind to let me off during office hours, while turning down my offer to work late to make up for it. He asked a couple of indirect questions to determine where I might be going on my lunch break, none of which was a simple and direct "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, SHU?", so I missed that train of opportunity to give a fair explanation of my plans for the day. Sigh.
At the university, in my old faculty, hit by an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and hunger pangs, I queued with many others to wait to get into the lecture hall. There was no time for lunch that day so I had to do with a tiny pack of chips. I found a nice spot in the centre of the hall and watched as the venue fill up until it could hold no more people. One of my old lecturers from an Astronomy-related module I did with much enthusiasm was also scurrying about the hall. I also noticed that compared to university students (which I was about 7-10 years ago), I was much better dressed now and ate less junk food and sweets in wrappers.
When it was nearly time for his arrival, I was feeling very excited and jittery, much like a child waiting for the starting act of a circus show. He was late though and the prolonged effect of adrenaline on a starved stomach was not exactly nice! But eventually, he arrived amidst the cheers and applause after we were treated to the season premiere of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey which airs in March. I was blown away by the visual effects and content that I had goose bumps for most of time and now I can't wait to catch it on TV in March. Perhaps I'll also try to dig up the original Cosmos: A Personal Voyage series done by Carl Sagan in the 1980's.
Dr Tyson was so likeable and had the audience cheering and applauding ever so often! He was very friendly, extremely funny, intelligent and accomplished with stellar qualifications, yet there was no air of arrogance or superiority about him. He answered every question (the seemingly silly and the intelligent ones) from the students with the same enthusiasm and humour to impart whatever knowledge he had on the subject in the most understandable terms.
When it was over, I rushed back to office, had a cup of instant soup and resumed work. Overall, I thought that was a day well spent!
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