-
Once there was a star.
-
Like everything else, she was born;
-
grew to be around 30 times
the mass of our sun
-
and lived for a very long time.
-
Exactly how long,
-
people cannot really tell.
-
Just like everything in life,
-
she reached the end
of her regular star days
-
when her heart, the core of her life,
-
exhausted its fuel.
-
But that was no end.
-
She transformed into a supernova,
and in the process
-
releasing a tremendous amount of energy,
-
outshining the rest of the galaxy
-
and emitting, in one second,
-
the same amount of energy
our sun will release in 10 days.
-
And she evolved
into another role in our galaxy.
-
Supernova explosions are very extreme.
-
But the ones that emit gamma rays
are even more extreme.
-
In the process of becoming a supernova,
-
the interior of the star collapses
under its own weight
-
and it starts rotating ever faster,
-
like an ice skater when pulling
their arms in close to their body.
-
In that way, it starts rotating very fast
and it increases, powerfully,
-
its magnetic field.
-
The matter around the star
is dragged around,
-
and some energy from that rotation
is transferred to that matter
-
and the magnetic field
is increased even further.
-
In that way, our star had extra energy
to outshine the rest of the galaxy
-
in brightness and gamma ray emission.
-
My star, the one in my story,
-
became what is known as a magnetar.
-
And just for your information,
-
the magnetic field of a magnetar
is 1,000 trillion times
-
the magnetic field of Earth.
-
The most energetic events
ever measured by astronomers
-
carry the name gamma-ray bursts
-
because we observe them
as bursts most or explosions,
-
most strongly measured as gamma-ray light.
-
Our star, like the one in our story
that became a magnetar,
-
is detected as a gamma-ray burst
-
during the most energetic
portion of the explosion.
-
Yet, even though gamma-ray bursts
are the strongest events
-
ever measured by astronomers,
-
we cannot see them with our naked eye.
-
We depend, we rely on other methods
-
in order to study this gamma-ray light.
-
We cannot see them with our naked eye.
-
We can only see
an itty bitty, tiny portion
-
of the electromagnetic spectrum
that we call visible light.
-
And beyond that, we rely on other methods.
-
Yet as astronomers,
we study a wider range of light
-
and we depend on other methods to do that.
-
On the screen, it may look like this.
-
You're seeing a plot.
-
That is a light curve.
-
It's a plot of intensity
of light over time.
-
It is a gamma-ray light curve.
-
Sighted astronomers
depend on this kind of plot
-
in order to interpret how
this light intensity changes over time.
-
On the left, you will be seeing
the light intensity without a burst,
-
and on the right, you will be seeing
the light intensity with the burst.
-
Early during my career,
I could also see this kind of plot.
-
But then, I lost my sight.
-
I completely lost my sight
because of extended illness,
-
and with it, I lost
the opportunity to see this plot
-
and the opportunity to do my physics.
-
It was a very strong transition
for me in many ways.
-
And professionally, it left me
without a way to do my science.
-
I longed to access and scrutinize
this energetic light
-
and figure out the astrophysical cause.
-
I wanted to experience
the spacious wonder, the excitement,
-
the joy produced by the detection
of such a titanic celestial event.
-
I thought long and hard about it,
-
when I suddenly realized
that all a light curve is,
-
is a table of numbers
converted into a visual plot.
-
So along with my collaborators,
-
we worked really hard and we translated
the numbers into sound.
-
I achieved access to the data,
-
and today I'm able to do physics
at the level of the best astronomer,
-
using sound.
-
And what people have been able to do,
-
mainly visually,
-
for hundreds of years,
-
now I do it using sound.
-
(Applause)
-
Listening to this gamma-ray burst
-
that you're seeing on the --
(Applause continues)
-
Thank you.
-
Listening to this burst
that you're seeing on the screen
-
brought something to the ear
beyond the obvious burst.
-
Now I'm going to play the burst for you.
-
It's not music, it's sound.
-
(Digital beeping sounds)
-
This is scientific data
converted into sound,
-
and it's mapped in pitch.
-
The process is called sonification.
-
So listening to this
brought something to the ear
-
besides the obvious burst.
-
When I examine the very strong
low-frequency regions,
-
or bass line -- I'm zooming
into the bass line now.
-
We noted resonances characteristic
of electrically charged gasses
-
like the solar wind.
-
And I want you to hear what I heard.
-
You will hear it as a very fast
decrease in volume.
-
And because you're sighted,
I'm giving you a red line
-
indicating what intensity of light
is being converted into sound.
-
(Digital hum and whistling sound)
-
The (Whistles) is frogs at home,
don't pay attention to that.
-
(Laughter)
-
(Digital hum and whistling sound)
-
I think you heard it, right?
-
So what we found
-
is that the bursts last long enough
in order to support wave resonances,
-
which are things caused by exchanges
of energy between particles
-
that may have been excited,
-
that depend on the volume.
-
You may remember that I said
that the matter around the star
-
is dragged around?
-
It transmits power with frequency
and field distribution
-
determined by the dimensions.
-
You may remember that we were talking
about a super-massive star
-
that became a very strong
magnetic field magnetar.
-
If this is the case, then outflows
from the exploding star
-
may be associated
with this gamma-ray burst.
-
What does that mean?
-
That star formation
may be a very important part
-
of these supernova explosions.
-
Listening to this very gamma-ray burst
brought us to the notion
-
that the use of sound
as an adjunctive visual display
-
may also support sighted astronomers
-
in the search for more
information in the data.
-
Simultaneously, I worked on analyzing
measurements from other telescopes,
-
and my experiments demonstrated
-
that when you use sound
as an adjunctive visual display,
-
astronomers can find more information
-
in this now more accessible data set.
-
This ability to transform data into sound
-
gives astronomy a tremendous
power of transformation.
-
And the fact that a field
that is so visual may be improved
-
in order to include anyone with interest
in understanding what lies in the heavens
-
is a spirit-lifter.
-
When I lost my sight,
-
I noticed that I didn't have access
-
to the same amount
and quality of information
-
a sighted astronomer had.
-
It was not until we innovated
with the sonification process
-
that I regained the hope
to be a productive member of the field
-
that I had worked so hard to be part of.
-
Yet, information access
is not the only area in astronomy
-
where this is important.
-
The situation is systemic
-
and scientific fields are not keeping up.
-
The body is something changeable --
-
anyone may develop
a disability at any point.
-
Let's think about, for example,
-
scientists that are already
at the top of their careers.
-
What happens to them
if they develop a disability?
-
Will they feel excommunicated as I did?
-
Information access
empowers us to flourish.
-
It gives us equal opportunities
to display our talents
-
and choose what we want
to do with our lives,
-
based on interest and not based
on potential barriers.
-
When we give people the opportunity
to succeed without limits,
-
that will lead to personal fulfillment
and prospering life.
-
And I think that the use
of sound in astronomy
-
is helping us to achieve that
and to contribute to science.
-
While other countries told me
that the study of perception techniques
-
in order to study astronomy data
is not relevant to astronomy
-
because there are no blind
astronomers in the field,
-
South Africa said, "We want
people with disabilities
-
to contribute to the field."
-
Right now, I'm working
-
at the South African
Astronomical Observatory,
-
at the Office of Astronomy
for Development.
-
There, we are working on sonification
techniques and analysis methods
-
to impact the students
of the Athlone School for the Blind.
-
These students will be learning
radio astronomy,
-
and they will be learning
the sonification methods
-
in order to study astronomical events
like huge ejections of energy
-
from the sun, known as
coronal mass ejections.
-
What we learn with these students --
-
these students have multiple disabilities
and coping strategies
-
that will be accommodated --
-
what we learn with these students
will directly impact
-
the way things are being done
at the professional level.
-
I humbly call this development.
-
And this is happening right now.
-
I think that science is for everyone.
-
It belongs to the people,
-
and it has to be available to everyone
-
because we are all natural explorers.
-
I think that if we limit people
with disabilities
-
from participating in science,
-
we'll sever our links with history
and with society.
-
I dream of a level
scientific playing field,
-
where people encourage respect
and respect each other,
-
where people exchange strategies
and discover together.
-
If people with disabilities
are allowed into the scientific field,
-
an explosion, a huge titanic burst
of knowledge will take place,
-
I am sure.
-
(Digital beeping sounds)
-
That is the titanic burst.
-
Thank you.
-
Thank you.
-
(Applause)