WEBVTT

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Once there was a star.

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Like everything else, she was born;

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grew to be around 30 times
the mass of our sun

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and lived for a very long time.

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Exactly how long,

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people cannot really tell.

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Just like everything in life,

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she reached the end
of her regular star days

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when her heart, the core of her life,

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exhausted its fuel.

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But that was no end.

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She transformed into a supernova,
and in the process,

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releasing a tremendous amount of energy,

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outshining the rest of the galaxy

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and emitting, in one second,

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the same amount of energy
our sun will release in 10 days.

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And she evolved
into another role in our galaxy.

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Supernova explosions are very extreme.

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But the ones that emit gamma rays
are even more extreme.

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In the process of becoming a supernova,

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the interior of the star collapses
under its own weight

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and it starts rotating ever faster,

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like an ice skater when pulling
their arms in close to their body.

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In that way, it starts rotating very fast
and it increases, powerfully,

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its magnetic field.

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The matter around the star
is dragged around,

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and some energy from that rotation
is transferred to that matter

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and the magnetic field
is increased even further.

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In that way, our star had extra energy
to outshine the rest of the galaxy

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in brightness and gamma ray emission.

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My star, the one in my story,

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became what is known as a magnetar.

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And just for your information,

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the magnetic field of a magnetar
is 1,000 trillion times

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the magnetic field of Earth.

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The most energetic events
ever measured by astronomers

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carry the name gamma-ray bursts,

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because we observe them
as bursts most or explosions,

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most strongly measured as gamma-ray light.

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Our star, like the one in our story
that became a magnetar,

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is detected as a gamma-ray burst

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during the most energetic
portion of the explosion.

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Yet, even though gamma-ray bursts
are the strongest events

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ever measured by astronomers,

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we cannot see them with our naked eye.

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We depend, we rely on other methods

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in order to study this gamma-ray light.

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We cannot see them with our naked eye.

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We can only see
an itty bitty, tiny portion

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of the electromagnetic spectrum
that we call visible light.

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And beyond that, we rely on other methods.

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Yet as astronomers,
we study a wider range of light

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and we depend on other methods to do that.

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On the screen, it may look like this.

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You're seeing a plot.

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That is a light curve.

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It's a plot of intensity
of light over time.

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It is a gamma-ray light curve.

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Sighted astronomers
depend on this kind of plot

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in order to interpret how
this light intensity changes over time.

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On the left, you will be seeing
the light intensity without a burst,

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and on the right, you will be seeing
the light intensity with the burst.

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Early during my career,
I could also see this kind of plot.

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But then, I lost my sight.

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I completely lost my sight
because of extended illness,

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and with it, I lost
the opportunity to see this plot

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and the opportunity to do my physics.

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It was a very strong transition
for me in many ways.

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And professionally, it left me
without a way to do my science.

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I longed to access and scrutinize
this energetic light

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and figure out the astrophysical cause.

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I wanted to experience
the spacious wonder, the excitement,

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the joy produced by the detection
of such a titanic celestial event.

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I thought long and hard about it,

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when I suddenly realized
that all a light curve is,

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is a table of numbers
converted into a visual plot.

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So along with my collaborators,

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we worked really hard and we translated
the numbers into sound.

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I achieved access to the data,

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and today I'm able to do physics
at the level of the best astronomer,

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using sound.

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And what people have been able to do,

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mainly visually,

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for hundreds of years,

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now I do it using sound.

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(Applause)

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Listening to this gamma-ray burst

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that you're seeing on the --
(Applause continues)

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Thank you.

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Listening to this burst
that you're seeing on the screen

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brought something to the ear
beyond the obvious burst.

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Now I'm going to play the burst for you.

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It's not music, it's sound.

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(Digital beeping sounds)

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This is scientific data
converted into sound,

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and it's mapped in pitch.

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The process is called sonification.

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So listening to this
brought something to the ear

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besides the obvious burst.

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When I examine the very strong
low-frequency regions,

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or bass line -- I'm zooming
into the bass line now.

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[Examining] the bass line,

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we noted resonances characteristic
of electrically charged gasses

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like the solar wind.

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And I want you to hear what I heard.

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You will hear it as a very fast
decrease in volume.

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And because you're sighted,
I'm giving you a red line

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indicating what intensity of light
is being converted into sound.

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(Digital hum and whistling sound)

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The (Whistles) is frogs at home,
don't pay attention to that.

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(Laughter)

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(Digital hum and whistling sound)

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I think you heard it, right?

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So what we found

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is that the bursts last long enough
in order to support wave resonances,

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which are things caused by exchanges
of energy between particles

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that may have been excited,

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that depend on the volume.

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You may remember that I said
that the matter around the star

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is dragged around?

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It transmits power with frequency
and field distribution

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determined by the dimensions.

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You may remember that we were talking
about a super-massive star

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that became a very strong
magnetic field magnetar.

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If this is the case, then outflows
from the exploding star

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may be associated
with this gamma-ray burst.

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What does that mean?

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That star formation
may be a very important part

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of these supernova explosions.

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Listening to this very gamma-ray burst
brought us to the notion

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that the use of sound
as an adjunctive visual display

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may also support sighted astronomers

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in the search for more
information in the data.

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Simultaneously, I worked on analyzing
measurements from other telescopes,

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and my experiments demonstrated

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that when you use sound
as an adjunctive visual display,

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astronomers can find more information

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in this now more accessible data set.

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This ability to transform data into sound

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gives astronomy a tremendous
power of transformation.

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And the fact that a field
that is so visual may be improved

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in order to include anyone with interest
in understanding what lies in heaven,

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is a spirit-lifter.

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When I lost my sight,

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I noticed that I didn't have access

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to the same amount
and quality of information

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a sighted astronomer had.

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It was not until we innovated
with the sonification process

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that I regained the hope
to be a productive member of the field

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that I had worked so hard to be part of.

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Yet, information access
is not the only area in astronomy

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where this is important.

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The situation is systemic

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and scientific fields are not keeping up.

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The body is something changeable --

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anyone may develop
a disability at any point.

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Let's think about, for example,

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scientists that are already
at the top of their careers.

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What happens to them
if they develop a disability?

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Will they feel excommunicated as I did?

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Information access
empowers us to flourish.

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It gives us equal opportunities
to display our talents

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and choose what we want
to do with our lives,

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based on interest and not based
on potential barriers.

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When we give people the opportunity
to succeed without limits,

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that will lead to personal fulfillment
and prospering life.

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And I think that the use
of sound in astronomy

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is helping us to achieve that
and to contribute to science.

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While other countries told me
that the study of perception techniques

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in order to study astronomy data
is not relevant to astronomy

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because there are no blind
astronomers in the field,

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South Africa said, "We want
people with disabilities

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to contribute to the field."

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Right now, I'm working

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at the South African
Astronomical Observatory,

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at the Office of Astronomy
for Development.

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There, we are working on sonification
techniques and analysis methods

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to impact the students
of the Athlone School for the Blind.

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These students will be learning
radio astronomy,

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and they will be learning
the sonification methods

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in order to study astronomical events
like huge ejections of energy

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from the sun, known as
coronal mass ejections.

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What we learn with these students --

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these students have multiple disabilities
and coping strategies

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that will be accommodated --

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what we learn with these students
will directly impact

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the way things are being done
at the professional level.

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I humbly call this development.

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And this is happening right now.

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I think that science is for everyone.

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It belongs to the people,

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and it has to be available to everyone,

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because we are all natural explorers.

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I think that if we limit people
with disabilities

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from participating in science,

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we'll sever our links with history
and with society.

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I dream of a level
scientific playing field,

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where people encourage respect
and respect each other,

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where people exchange strategies
and discover together.

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If people with disabilities
are allowed into the scientific field,

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an explosion, a huge titanic burst
of knowledge will take place,

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I am sure.

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(Digital beeping sounds)

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That is the titanic burst.

NOTE Paragraph

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Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

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Thank you.

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(Applause)