most students do unsure of what I wanted
to do with my life I star gazed a lot as
a kid but as I grew older and the
pressures of making money loomed larger
I turned to other fields so I started at
Virginia Tech as an engineer as one does
and I took the classes and I did
moderately well but all the time my mind
drifted back to the Stars my second year
I was accepted into an astronomy
research program at Sara – Lolo
Observatory in la serena chile as part
of the program each student got to
observe for two nights at a major
telescope there so my first night on the
mountain i sat down in the control room
typed in the coordinates of the galaxies
I wanted to look at and this is the
picture I got that was the night I knew
I was going to be an astronomer see I’m
fascinated with how people around the
world see the Stars and most recently
this question has brought me to Gabon a
small country in western Africa to
explore the influence of astronomy in
African culture I spent two months
traveling around the country hearing
stories interviewing experts and
witnessing ceremonies like nothing I’d
ever experienced before
one of the oldest religions in Gabon is
called booty and it’s practiced by
ethnic groups across the country during
a ceremony initiates were adorned with
images of the Sun the moon and the stars
these objects represent the invisible
world that connects the living to their
ancestors and the light represents the
knowledge gained from initiation for the
Togo people of central Gabon astronomy
is particularly important in names a man
I interviewed told me as we are losing
our connection
with nature as the rainforests are being
destroyed we look more and more to the
stars to keep this connection alive solo
culture dictates that if you lead a good
moral life you will become a star after
death and so because of this children
are given names such as Gandhi the moon
or Menengah
the star for the bumbu people to the
south of Gabon their belief system is
that any crops planted will take on the
physical attributes of their
surroundings because of this cassava a
popular West African tuber can only be
planted when the moon is in waxing or
waning phases this ensures that the crop
will grow its characteristic crescent
shape instead of misshapen and unhealthy
so in hearing these stories and learning
about the different influences that
astronomy has I began to wonder why do
these perspectives matter how can we use
them for the betterment of people around
the world these are the questions that
brought me to the office of astronomy
for development in Cape Town South
Africa the incredible team there is
working to answer exactly these
questions empowering people through
astronomy to solve problems get excited
about STEM fields and improve their
lives on the left is Wanda Diaz mark ed
a member of this team her senior year of
an undergraduate program in astrophysics
Wanda went blind but instead of giving
up she decided to devote her life to
making astronomy accessible for the
visually impaired her pioneering work
sonna fiying visual data has now made it
possible for blind students to hear the
stars instead of seeing them the office
of astronomy for development all
collaborated with the South African
astronomical observatory and a team of
artists to create the Sutherland
reflections program Sutherland is the
site of all major telescopes in South
Africa astronomers from around the world
will travel through Sutherland to use
these facilities and in doing so
drive through impoverished communities
that have been marginalized by the South
African government under apartheid to
help bring astronomy to these
communities the Sutherland reflections
program created a series of art and
science demonstrations across the city
this picture from the visitor center
represents a tale in Sutherland folklore
in which a star falls to earth and a
little boy picks it up and throws it
back in order to keep the sky beautiful
here in Sutherland a community center
and library were also created to help
bring education to the children who need
it most as part of an exhibit a 3d
expanse of stars was created from pieces
of broken glass taken from homes that
had been demolished by the South African
government under apartheid here in
Sutherland the Stars truly represent the
past the present and the future
the Office of astronomy for development
also funds creative outreach proposals
around the world this picture was taken
from the Chinese astrophotography
contest in 2013 for the contest people
across Beijing were tasked with imaging
the sky to illustrate ancient Chinese
poems writers and historians discussed
the historical significance of the poems
astronomers discussed the underlying
astronomy and photographers gave talks
on how to take better pictures here’s
one of the winning photographs on the
Left which was hung in the Beijing
planetarium and one of the ancient
Chinese poems on the right through the
competition people were able to learn
and get excited about the Stars while
further routing them to their heritage
but of course
no story is complete without conflict
this is a projection of light pollution
in North America from the 1950s and
projected out to 2025 year after year
it’s getting harder and harder to see
the stars and it’s easy to think of this
as just a problem for the astronomers
but it’s not this problem affects each
and every one of us we saw with the
Stars mean to people in Gabon in South
Africa in China what did the stars mean
to us in 1803 Thomas Jefferson wrote a
letter to famous astronomer Robert
Patterson and asked him to teach Lewis
and Clark celestial navigation so that
they could better navigate the new
frontier Robert Patterson replied I am
preparing a set of astronomical formula
for mr. Lewis and will with the greatest
pleasure render him every assistance in
my power how would this country be
different had they been unable to see
the Stars what might van Gogh have
painted if light pollution had
obstructed his view the very symbol of
our nation is the star-spangled banner
why are we not doing more to protect the
sky this is a picture I took of my view
at the South African Observatory in Cape
Town every person on earth has a right
to this view the stars are an
unparalleled resource for inspiration
around the world regardless of culture
in math in science and an art and they
teach us more about ourselves and our
history in the words of a Javanese man I
interviewed the further we look outward
the deeper we look inward we tell our
children to reach for the stars because
we see our futures there and if we lose
the Stars then what happens to our
future
thank you [Applause]