1
00:00:01,163 --> 00:00:03,429
Once there was a star.

2
00:00:04,082 --> 00:00:06,804
Like everything else, she was born;

3
00:00:06,828 --> 00:00:10,609
grew to be around 30 times
the mass of our sun

4
00:00:10,633 --> 00:00:12,926
and lived for a very long time.

5
00:00:13,475 --> 00:00:14,843
Exactly how long,

6
00:00:14,867 --> 00:00:16,606
people cannot really tell.

7
00:00:17,162 --> 00:00:18,941
Just like everything in life,

8
00:00:18,965 --> 00:00:22,414
she reached the end
of her regular star days

9
00:00:22,438 --> 00:00:25,015
when her heart, the core of her life,

10
00:00:25,039 --> 00:00:26,505
exhausted its fuel.

11
00:00:26,905 --> 00:00:28,212
But that was no end.

12
00:00:28,236 --> 00:00:31,762
She transformed into a supernova,
and in the process

13
00:00:31,786 --> 00:00:34,440
releasing a tremendous amount of energy,

14
00:00:34,464 --> 00:00:37,172
outshining the rest of the galaxy

15
00:00:37,196 --> 00:00:39,530
and emitting, in one second,

16
00:00:39,554 --> 00:00:43,627
the same amount of energy
our sun will release in 10 days.

17
00:00:43,651 --> 00:00:46,922
And she evolved
into another role in our galaxy.

18
00:00:47,783 --> 00:00:50,257
Supernova explosions are very extreme.

19
00:00:50,638 --> 00:00:54,858
But the ones that emit gamma rays
are even more extreme.

20
00:00:55,417 --> 00:00:57,706
In the process of becoming a supernova,

21
00:00:57,730 --> 00:01:01,153
the interior of the star collapses
under its own weight

22
00:01:01,177 --> 00:01:04,065
and it starts rotating ever faster,

23
00:01:04,089 --> 00:01:07,954
like an ice skater when pulling
their arms in close to their body.

24
00:01:08,592 --> 00:01:13,050
In that way, it starts rotating very fast
and it increases, powerfully,

25
00:01:13,074 --> 00:01:14,634
its magnetic field.

26
00:01:15,011 --> 00:01:18,100
The matter around the star
is dragged around,

27
00:01:18,124 --> 00:01:21,442
and some energy from that rotation
is transferred to that matter

28
00:01:21,466 --> 00:01:24,874
and the magnetic field
is increased even further.

29
00:01:25,477 --> 00:01:31,239
In that way, our star had extra energy
to outshine the rest of the galaxy

30
00:01:31,263 --> 00:01:33,566
in brightness and gamma ray emission.

31
00:01:34,119 --> 00:01:36,608
My star, the one in my story,

32
00:01:36,632 --> 00:01:39,280
became what is known as a magnetar.

33
00:01:39,304 --> 00:01:40,985
And just for your information,

34
00:01:41,009 --> 00:01:44,890
the magnetic field of a magnetar
is 1,000 trillion times

35
00:01:44,914 --> 00:01:46,683
the magnetic field of Earth.

36
00:01:47,953 --> 00:01:50,609
The most energetic events
ever measured by astronomers

37
00:01:50,633 --> 00:01:52,888
carry the name gamma-ray bursts

38
00:01:52,912 --> 00:01:56,519
because we observe them
as bursts most or explosions,

39
00:01:56,543 --> 00:01:59,076
most strongly measured as gamma-ray light.

40
00:01:59,886 --> 00:02:04,091
Our star, like the one in our story
that became a magnetar,

41
00:02:04,115 --> 00:02:06,186
is detected as a gamma-ray burst

42
00:02:06,210 --> 00:02:08,770
during the most energetic
portion of the explosion.

43
00:02:10,167 --> 00:02:15,468
Yet, even though gamma-ray bursts
are the strongest events

44
00:02:15,492 --> 00:02:17,581
ever measured by astronomers,

45
00:02:17,605 --> 00:02:20,242
we cannot see them with our naked eye.

46
00:02:20,266 --> 00:02:22,594
We depend, we rely on other methods

47
00:02:22,618 --> 00:02:25,407
in order to study this gamma-ray light.

48
00:02:25,431 --> 00:02:27,278
We cannot see them with our naked eye.

49
00:02:27,302 --> 00:02:30,372
We can only see
an itty bitty, tiny portion

50
00:02:30,396 --> 00:02:34,122
of the electromagnetic spectrum
that we call visible light.

51
00:02:34,146 --> 00:02:36,418
And beyond that, we rely on other methods.

52
00:02:36,442 --> 00:02:41,702
Yet as astronomers,
we study a wider range of light

53
00:02:41,726 --> 00:02:44,490
and we depend on other methods to do that.

54
00:02:44,514 --> 00:02:47,090
On the screen, it may look like this.

55
00:02:47,812 --> 00:02:49,544
You're seeing a plot.

56
00:02:49,568 --> 00:02:51,493
That is a light curve.

57
00:02:51,517 --> 00:02:55,066
It's a plot of intensity
of light over time.

58
00:02:55,090 --> 00:02:57,554
It is a gamma-ray light curve.

59
00:02:58,013 --> 00:03:01,705
Sighted astronomers
depend on this kind of plot

60
00:03:01,729 --> 00:03:06,401
in order to interpret how
this light intensity changes over time.

61
00:03:06,933 --> 00:03:12,449
On the left, you will be seeing
the light intensity without a burst,

62
00:03:12,473 --> 00:03:16,628
and on the right, you will be seeing
the light intensity with the burst.

63
00:03:18,381 --> 00:03:22,082
Early during my career,
I could also see this kind of plot.

64
00:03:22,562 --> 00:03:25,290
But then, I lost my sight.

65
00:03:25,314 --> 00:03:28,466
I completely lost my sight
because of extended illness,

66
00:03:28,490 --> 00:03:32,175
and with it, I lost
the opportunity to see this plot

67
00:03:33,208 --> 00:03:35,965
and the opportunity to do my physics.

68
00:03:37,672 --> 00:03:40,127
It was a very strong transition
for me in many ways.

69
00:03:41,295 --> 00:03:45,540
And professionally, it left me
without a way to do my science.

70
00:03:45,564 --> 00:03:50,179
I longed to access and scrutinize
this energetic light

71
00:03:50,203 --> 00:03:52,889
and figure out the astrophysical cause.

72
00:03:52,913 --> 00:03:56,375
I wanted to experience
the spacious wonder, the excitement,

73
00:03:56,399 --> 00:04:00,848
the joy produced by the detection
of such a titanic celestial event.

74
00:04:01,352 --> 00:04:04,652
I thought long and hard about it,

75
00:04:04,676 --> 00:04:08,361
when I suddenly realized
that all a light curve is,

76
00:04:08,385 --> 00:04:12,226
is a table of numbers
converted into a visual plot.

77
00:04:12,861 --> 00:04:14,762
So along with my collaborators,

78
00:04:14,786 --> 00:04:18,994
we worked really hard and we translated
the numbers into sound.

79
00:04:19,765 --> 00:04:21,769
I achieved access to the data,

80
00:04:21,793 --> 00:04:26,806
and today I'm able to do physics
at the level of the best astronomer,

81
00:04:26,830 --> 00:04:27,981
using sound.

82
00:04:28,005 --> 00:04:30,633
And what people have been able to do,

83
00:04:30,657 --> 00:04:31,810
mainly visually,

84
00:04:31,834 --> 00:04:33,178
for hundreds of years,

85
00:04:33,202 --> 00:04:35,544
now I do it using sound.

86
00:04:35,892 --> 00:04:36,929
(Applause)

87
00:04:36,953 --> 00:04:38,655
Listening to this gamma-ray burst

88
00:04:38,679 --> 00:04:40,999
that you're seeing on the --
(Applause continues)

89
00:04:41,023 --> 00:04:42,174
Thank you.

90
00:04:42,198 --> 00:04:44,906
Listening to this burst
that you're seeing on the screen

91
00:04:44,930 --> 00:04:47,525
brought something to the ear
beyond the obvious burst.

92
00:04:47,973 --> 00:04:49,908
Now I'm going to play the burst for you.

93
00:04:49,932 --> 00:04:51,986
It's not music, it's sound.

94
00:04:53,264 --> 00:04:56,515
(Digital beeping sounds)

95
00:04:56,539 --> 00:04:59,830
This is scientific data
converted into sound,

96
00:04:59,854 --> 00:05:01,088
and it's mapped in pitch.

97
00:05:01,112 --> 00:05:03,531
The process is called sonification.

98
00:05:06,958 --> 00:05:09,268
So listening to this
brought something to the ear

99
00:05:09,292 --> 00:05:10,641
besides the obvious burst.

100
00:05:10,665 --> 00:05:15,186
When I examine the very strong
low-frequency regions,

101
00:05:15,210 --> 00:05:20,082
or bass line -- I'm zooming
into the bass line now.

102
00:05:21,500 --> 00:05:27,019
We noted resonances characteristic
of electrically charged gasses

103
00:05:27,043 --> 00:05:28,645
like the solar wind.

104
00:05:28,669 --> 00:05:31,172
And I want you to hear what I heard.

105
00:05:31,196 --> 00:05:34,977
You will hear it as a very fast
decrease in volume.

106
00:05:35,001 --> 00:05:37,764
And because you're sighted,
I'm giving you a red line

107
00:05:37,788 --> 00:05:41,727
indicating what intensity of light
is being converted into sound.

108
00:05:43,672 --> 00:05:46,086
(Digital hum and whistling sound)

109
00:05:46,110 --> 00:05:49,404
The (Whistles) is frogs at home,
don't pay attention to that.

110
00:05:49,428 --> 00:05:51,274
(Laughter)

111
00:05:51,298 --> 00:05:56,525
(Digital hum and whistling sound)

112
00:05:56,549 --> 00:05:58,421
I think you heard it, right?

113
00:05:59,503 --> 00:06:00,780
So what we found

114
00:06:00,804 --> 00:06:05,718
is that the bursts last long enough
in order to support wave resonances,

115
00:06:05,742 --> 00:06:09,959
which are things caused by exchanges
of energy between particles

116
00:06:09,983 --> 00:06:11,301
that may have been excited,

117
00:06:11,325 --> 00:06:12,706
that depend on the volume.

118
00:06:13,151 --> 00:06:16,241
You may remember that I said
that the matter around the star

119
00:06:16,265 --> 00:06:17,921
is dragged around?

120
00:06:17,945 --> 00:06:21,759
It transmits power with frequency
and field distribution

121
00:06:21,783 --> 00:06:23,505
determined by the dimensions.

122
00:06:24,434 --> 00:06:28,384
You may remember that we were talking
about a super-massive star

123
00:06:28,408 --> 00:06:31,576
that became a very strong
magnetic field magnetar.

124
00:06:32,264 --> 00:06:36,637
If this is the case, then outflows
from the exploding star

125
00:06:36,661 --> 00:06:39,144
may be associated
with this gamma-ray burst.

126
00:06:39,168 --> 00:06:40,736
What does that mean?

127
00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:43,727
That star formation
may be a very important part

128
00:06:43,751 --> 00:06:45,265
of these supernova explosions.

129
00:06:46,047 --> 00:06:50,434
Listening to this very gamma-ray burst
brought us to the notion

130
00:06:50,458 --> 00:06:53,257
that the use of sound
as an adjunctive visual display

131
00:06:53,281 --> 00:06:55,506
may also support sighted astronomers

132
00:06:55,530 --> 00:06:57,980
in the search for more
information in the data.

133
00:06:58,562 --> 00:07:03,880
Simultaneously, I worked on analyzing
measurements from other telescopes,

134
00:07:03,904 --> 00:07:06,107
and my experiments demonstrated

135
00:07:06,131 --> 00:07:10,345
that when you use sound
as an adjunctive visual display,

136
00:07:10,369 --> 00:07:13,285
astronomers can find more information

137
00:07:13,309 --> 00:07:16,176
in this now more accessible data set.

138
00:07:17,086 --> 00:07:20,830
This ability to transform data into sound

139
00:07:20,854 --> 00:07:23,931
gives astronomy a tremendous
power of transformation.

140
00:07:24,381 --> 00:07:28,322
And the fact that a field
that is so visual may be improved

141
00:07:28,346 --> 00:07:33,019
in order to include anyone with interest
in understanding what lies in the heavens

142
00:07:33,043 --> 00:07:34,552
is a spirit-lifter.

143
00:07:35,390 --> 00:07:37,279
When I lost my sight,

144
00:07:37,303 --> 00:07:39,379
I noticed that I didn't have access

145
00:07:39,403 --> 00:07:42,029
to the same amount
and quality of information

146
00:07:42,053 --> 00:07:43,449
a sighted astronomer had.

147
00:07:44,220 --> 00:07:47,700
It was not until we innovated
with the sonification process

148
00:07:47,724 --> 00:07:51,676
that I regained the hope
to be a productive member of the field

149
00:07:51,700 --> 00:07:54,310
that I had worked so hard to be part of.

150
00:07:55,429 --> 00:07:59,880
Yet, information access
is not the only area in astronomy

151
00:07:59,904 --> 00:08:02,088
where this is important.

152
00:08:02,602 --> 00:08:05,126
The situation is systemic

153
00:08:05,150 --> 00:08:08,119
and scientific fields are not keeping up.

154
00:08:08,825 --> 00:08:11,477
The body is something changeable --

155
00:08:11,501 --> 00:08:14,866
anyone may develop
a disability at any point.

156
00:08:14,890 --> 00:08:17,128
Let's think about, for example,

157
00:08:17,152 --> 00:08:19,939
scientists that are already
at the top of their careers.

158
00:08:19,963 --> 00:08:22,803
What happens to them
if they develop a disability?

159
00:08:22,827 --> 00:08:25,244
Will they feel excommunicated as I did?

160
00:08:25,839 --> 00:08:29,029
Information access
empowers us to flourish.

161
00:08:29,499 --> 00:08:33,099
It gives us equal opportunities
to display our talents

162
00:08:33,123 --> 00:08:35,986
and choose what we want
to do with our lives,

163
00:08:36,010 --> 00:08:39,318
based on interest and not based
on potential barriers.

164
00:08:40,294 --> 00:08:44,661
When we give people the opportunity
to succeed without limits,

165
00:08:44,685 --> 00:08:49,243
that will lead to personal fulfillment
and prospering life.

166
00:08:49,267 --> 00:08:51,700
And I think that the use
of sound in astronomy

167
00:08:51,724 --> 00:08:55,201
is helping us to achieve that
and to contribute to science.

168
00:08:56,119 --> 00:09:00,651
While other countries told me
that the study of perception techniques

169
00:09:00,675 --> 00:09:04,252
in order to study astronomy data
is not relevant to astronomy

170
00:09:04,276 --> 00:09:07,476
because there are no blind
astronomers in the field,

171
00:09:07,500 --> 00:09:10,904
South Africa said, "We want
people with disabilities

172
00:09:10,928 --> 00:09:12,904
to contribute to the field."

173
00:09:12,928 --> 00:09:14,254
Right now, I'm working

174
00:09:14,278 --> 00:09:17,010
at the South African
Astronomical Observatory,

175
00:09:17,034 --> 00:09:20,119
at the Office of Astronomy
for Development.

176
00:09:20,436 --> 00:09:25,177
There, we are working on sonification
techniques and analysis methods

177
00:09:25,201 --> 00:09:28,647
to impact the students
of the Athlone School for the Blind.

178
00:09:29,603 --> 00:09:32,089
These students will be learning
radio astronomy,

179
00:09:32,113 --> 00:09:35,351
and they will be learning
the sonification methods

180
00:09:35,375 --> 00:09:39,846
in order to study astronomical events
like huge ejections of energy

181
00:09:39,870 --> 00:09:42,306
from the sun, known as
coronal mass ejections.

182
00:09:43,194 --> 00:09:44,953
What we learn with these students --

183
00:09:44,977 --> 00:09:48,774
these students have multiple disabilities
and coping strategies

184
00:09:48,798 --> 00:09:50,674
that will be accommodated --

185
00:09:50,698 --> 00:09:53,537
what we learn with these students
will directly impact

186
00:09:53,561 --> 00:09:56,718
the way things are being done
at the professional level.

187
00:09:56,742 --> 00:09:58,801
I humbly call this development.

188
00:09:58,825 --> 00:10:01,081
And this is happening right now.

189
00:10:02,350 --> 00:10:05,728
I think that science is for everyone.

190
00:10:06,275 --> 00:10:07,723
It belongs to the people,

191
00:10:07,747 --> 00:10:09,998
and it has to be available to everyone,

192
00:10:10,022 --> 00:10:12,235
because we are all natural explorers.

193
00:10:12,956 --> 00:10:18,136
I think that if we limit people
with disabilities

194
00:10:18,171 --> 00:10:20,000
from participating in science,

195
00:10:20,024 --> 00:10:23,672
we'll sever our links with history
and with society.

196
00:10:23,696 --> 00:10:27,142
I dream of a level
scientific playing field,

197
00:10:27,166 --> 00:10:32,154
where people encourage respect
and respect each other,

198
00:10:32,178 --> 00:10:35,266
where people exchange strategies
and discover together.

199
00:10:35,810 --> 00:10:40,107
If people with disabilities
are allowed into the scientific field,

200
00:10:40,131 --> 00:10:44,840
an explosion, a huge titanic burst
of knowledge will take place,

201
00:10:44,864 --> 00:10:46,341
I am sure.

202
00:10:49,251 --> 00:10:51,100
(Digital beeping sounds)

203
00:10:51,124 --> 00:10:52,988
That is the titanic burst.

204
00:10:54,420 --> 00:10:55,571
Thank you.

205
00:10:55,595 --> 00:10:56,746
Thank you.

206
00:10:56,770 --> 00:11:02,442
(Applause)