Hi! My name is Aayush and at the time of writing this blog post, I am studying towards a Masters degree in Astrophysics. This blog has nestled cosily in my mind for at least the last two years. As an Undergrad, I had a lot of raw data in my head, which I had collected from textbooks, popular science magazines and Wikipedia articles, accumulated together in a somewhat incoherent fashion. The essentials for a presumably interesting blog were all there. What was lacking was a backbone. A structure. Something that would provide a seamless link and bring together all these 'essentials' into something that made absolute sense.
Having spent a few months studying Astrophysics (something that I truly love and would not mind doing for the rest of my life), coupled with numerous dinner table conversations with family and friends about what astrophysicists actually do and how beautifully philosophical this study can be, I may have found the elusive backbone and a sense of direction for my imaginary blog, which may finally make it real.
My blog is called 'We are Starstuff'. I have to admit, like many other people in this field, I have been deeply affected and enchanted by the great Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was an astrophysicist, author, science communicator and in my opinion, a philosopher. He had the uncanny ability to blend philosophy with astrophysics. I use the word 'uncanny' because it upset a large section of people, especially those who doubted science in itself. But what it did to me was something huge. It gave me a broad idea of what I wanted to do with my life. How I wanted to live it. Therefore, I have named my blog after one of the statements that Carl Sagan once made, one of the most profound things a human brain can process, the simple fact that we are indeed, made of starstuff. The quote goes something like this,
Having spent a few months studying Astrophysics (something that I truly love and would not mind doing for the rest of my life), coupled with numerous dinner table conversations with family and friends about what astrophysicists actually do and how beautifully philosophical this study can be, I may have found the elusive backbone and a sense of direction for my imaginary blog, which may finally make it real.
My blog is called 'We are Starstuff'. I have to admit, like many other people in this field, I have been deeply affected and enchanted by the great Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was an astrophysicist, author, science communicator and in my opinion, a philosopher. He had the uncanny ability to blend philosophy with astrophysics. I use the word 'uncanny' because it upset a large section of people, especially those who doubted science in itself. But what it did to me was something huge. It gave me a broad idea of what I wanted to do with my life. How I wanted to live it. Therefore, I have named my blog after one of the statements that Carl Sagan once made, one of the most profound things a human brain can process, the simple fact that we are indeed, made of starstuff. The quote goes something like this,
"Our Sun is a second- or third-generation star. All of the rocky and metallic material we stand on, the iron in our blood, the calcium in our teeth, the carbon in our genes were produced billions of years ago in the interior of a red giant star. We are starstuff."
Through this blog, I will try and capture the beauty of what astrophysicists, and more generally, scientists do. I will also talk about some rather interesting phenomena, in a fashion that makes it easy for everyone to understand! I don't know how many people will actually read this, but I reached a point in my life where I felt that this blog had to be done.
I'll start by uploading some stuff that I wrote during my undergrad for our annual Physics department magazine called 'Quintessence'.
I sincerely hope that this little endeavour of mine yields maximum output. If I can get even a few people interested in this subject, it would count as a major success! Cheerio.
Artist's rendition of an exploding star, Supernova 1986J
All the best in your endeavor. Hope we are finally able to make sense of what Astrophysics really is, the passion of yours, pursuit of which made you go thousands of miles away. Cheers!!!
ReplyDeleteDad and Mom