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in Everyday Column

Marissa Rosenberg Georgia Bladon Keywords: EU-UNAWE, Leiden / Editor of CAPj and freelance Justification, Technology Transfer, Leiden , The Netherlands communicator, UK Astronomy and Society, Astronomy and [email protected] [email protected] World View

Pedro Russo Lars Lindberg Christensen EU-UNAWE, Leiden Observatory/ European Southern Observatory, Germany Leiden University, The Netherlands [email protected] [email protected]

Summary

For a long and other believed that the importance of their work was evident to society. But in these difficult days of financial austerity, even the most obvious benefits of science have to undergo careful scrutiny. So, now more than ever is the time to highlight the importance of astronomy as a field in terms of its contributions to our tech­ nology, our mind sets and our .

Here we will outline both the tangible and intangible reasons why astronomy is an important part of society. Whilst consid­ erable attention will be given to technology and knowledge transfer from astronomy, perhaps the most important contri­ bution outlined is the awareness that astronomy gives us of the vastness of the and our place within it.

Introduction maiden of Greek mythology, or , tify the pursuit of the answers. The difficul­ the demi-god who saved her. ties in describing the importance of astron­ Throughout people have looked omy, and fundamental research in general, to the to navigate the vast oceans, to Now, as our understanding of the world are well summarised by Nobel Prize winner decide when to plant their crops and to progresses, we find ourselves and our Ahmed Zewali: answer the questions of where we came view of the world even more entwined with from and how we got here. It is a disci­ the . The discovery that the basic ele­ “Preserving knowledge is easy. Transferring pline that opens our eyes, gives context to ments that we find in stars, and the gas and knowledge is also easy. But making new our place in the Universe and can reshape dust around them, are the same elements knowledge is neither easy nor profitable how we see the world. When Copernicus that make up our bodies has further deep­ in the short term. Fundamental research claimed that was not the centre of the ened the connection between us and the proves profitable in the long run, and, as Universe, it triggered a revolution. A revo­ cosmos. This connection touches our lives, importantly, it is a force that enriches the lution during which religion, science and and the awe it inspires is perhaps the rea­ culture of any society with reason and basic society had to adapt to this new worldview. son that the beautiful images astronomy truth.” provides us with are so popular in today’s — Ahmed Zewali, winner of the Nobel Prize Astronomy has always had a significant culture. in (1999). impact on our worldview. Early cultures identified celestial objects with the gods Current research in astronomy confronts There are other works that have contrib­ and took their movements across the sky a host of unanswered questions: “How uted to answering the question “Why is as prophecies of what was to come. We old are we?”, “What is the fate of the astronomy important?” Dr Robert Aitken, would now call this , far removed Universe?”, “How unique is the Universe?” director of Lick Observatory, shows us that from the hard facts and expensive instru­ and “Could a slightly different Universe even in 1933 there was a need to justify ments of today’s astronomy, but there are ever have supported life?” Pursuing these our science, in his paper entitled “The Use still hints of this history in modern astron­ questions is a fundamental part of being of Astronomy” (Aitken, 1933). His last sen­ omy. Take, for example, the names of the , yet in today’s world it has become tence summarises his sentiment: : Andromeda, the chained increasingly important to be able to jus­

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“To give man ever more knowledge of the of scientific and technological develop­ that is a measure of life expectancy, edu­ Universe and to help him ‘to learn humility ment in astronomy have become essen­ cation and income (Truman, 1949). and to know exaltation’, that is the mission tial to our day-to-day life, with applications of astronomy.” such as personal computers, communica­ Although the study of astronomy has pro­ tion satellites, mobile phones, GPS, solar vided a wealth of tangible, monetary and More recently, C. Renée James wrote an panels and Magnetic Resonance Imaging technological gains, perhaps the most article outlining the recent technological (MRI) scanners. important aspect of astronomy is not an advances that we can thank astronomy for, economic measure. Astronomy has, and such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), Astronomy is one of the few scientific fields continues to, revolutionise our thinking on medical imaging, and wireless internet that interacts directly with society. Not only a worldwide scale. In the past, astronomy (Renée James, 2012). In defence of radio transcending borders, but actively promot­ has been used to measure time, mark the astronomy, Dave Finley (2013) states: ing collaborations around the world. In the , and navigate the oceans. As one following paper, we outline the tangible of the oldest astronomy is part of “In sum, astronomy has been a cornerstone and intangible contributions of astronomy every culture’s history and roots. It inspires of technological progress throughout his- to various fields. us with beautiful images and promises tory, has much to contribute in the future, answers to the big questions. It acts as a and offers all a fundamental sense window into the immense and com­ of our place in an unimaginably vast and Astronomy, people and history plexity of space, putting Earth into per­ exciting Universe.” spective and promoting global citizenship Although we live in a world faced with the and pride in our home . So although blue- research like many immediate problems of hunger, pov­ astronomy rarely contributes directly to erty, energy and global warming, we argue Several reports in the US (National tangible outcomes on a short timescale, that astronomy has long-term benefits that Research Council, 2010) and Europe (Bode many are keen to outline its merit. A wealth are equally important to a civilised society. et al., 2008) indicate that one of the biggest of examples — many of which are outlined Several studies have told us that investing contributions of astronomy is its provision below — show how the study of astronomy in science education, research and tech­ of a unique perspective that extends our contributes to technology, economy and nology provides a great return — not only horizons and helps us discover the gran­ society by constantly pushing for instru­ economically, but culturally and indirectly deur of the Universe and our place within ments, processes and software that are for the population in general — and has it. The awe-inspiring of astronomy beyond our current capabilities. The pur­ helped countries to face and overcome cri­ makes it a perfect vehicle for introduc­ suit of this research requires cutting-edge ses. In fact, the scientific and technolog­ ing children to science. It has been found technology and methods that can, on a ical development of a country or region that teaching astronomy to our youth is of longer timescale, through their broader has been shown to be closely linked to its great value and that pupils who engage in application, make a difference. The fruits human development index — a statistic astronomy-related educational activities at a primary or secondary school are more likely to pursue careers in science and technology, and to keep up to date with scientific discoveries (National Research Council, 1991). This does not just bene­ fit the field of astronomy, but reaches out across all scientific disciplines.

As well as influencing our history and enhancing our present, astronomy also helps us study how to prolong the survival of our species into the future. For example, it is critical to study the ’s influence on the Earth’s climate and how it will affect weather and water levels. Only the study of the Sun and other stars can help us to understand these processes in their entirety, in the same way that mapping the movement of all the objects in the , is the only way to predict potential threats to our planet from space. Events that could cause major changes to our world, as was clearly Figure 1. A piercingly bright curtain of stars is the backdrop for this beautiful image taken by Håkon demonstrated by the impact in Dahle. The silhouetted figure in the foreground is Håkon, surrounded by just a couple of the great dark domes Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. that litter the mountain at ESO’s . Credit: ESO/H. Dahle

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Technology transfer • The first patents for techniques to detect From astronomy to the energy sector gravitational — produced when Astronomical methods can be used to From astronomy to industry massive bodies accelerate — have been find new fossil fuels as well as to evalu­ Some of the most useful examples of acquired by a company to help them ate the possibility of new renewable energy technology transfer between astronomy determine the gravitational stability of sources (National Research Council, 2010): and industry include advances in imaging underground oil reservoirs. and communications. For example, a film • The telecommunications company AT&T • Two oil companies, Texaco and BP, use called Kodak Technical Pan is used exten­ uses Image Reduction and Analysis IDL to analyse core samples around oil sively by medical and industrial spectros­ Facility (IRAF) — a collection of software fields as well as for general petroleum copists, industrial photographers, and art­ written at the National Optical Astronomy research. ists, and was originally created so that solar Observatory — to analyse computer sys­ • An Australian company, called Ingenero, astronomers could record the changes in tems and solid-state graphics. has created solar radiation collectors to the surface structure of the Sun. In addi­ harness the power of the Sun for energy tion, the development of Technical Pan — From astronomy to the aerospace­ on Earth. They have created collectors again driven by the requirements of astron­ ­sector up to 16 in diameter, which is only omers — was used was used for several The aerospace sector shares most of its possible with the use of a graphite com­ decades (until it was discontinued) to technology with astronomy — specifically in posite material developed for an orbiting detect diseased crops and forests, in den­ and instrument hardware, imag­ telescope array. tistry and medical diagnosis, and for prob­ ing, and image-processing techniques. • Technology designed to image X-rays ing layers of paintings to reveal forgeries in X-ray — which have to be (National Research Council, 1991). Since the development of space-based designed differently from visible- telescopes, information acquisition for telescopes — is now used to monitor In 2009 Willard S. Boyle and George E. defence has shifted from using ground- fusion. If fusion — where two Smith were awarded the Nobel Prize in based to aerial and space-based tech­ light atomic nuclei fuse to form a heav­ Physics for the development of another niques. Defence satellites are essentially ier nucleus — became possible to con­ device that would be widely used in ­ telescopes pointed towards Earth and trol, it could be the answer to safe, clean try. The sensors for image capture devel­ require identical technology and hard­ energy. oped for astronomical images, known as ware to those used in their astronomical charge-coupled devices (CCDs), were first counterparts. In addition, processing sat­ used in astronomy in 1976. Within a very ellite images uses the same software and Astronomy and medicine few they had replaced film not only processes as astronomical images. Some on telescopes, but also in many people’s specific examples of astronomical devel­ Astronomers struggle constantly to see personal cameras, webcams and mobile opments used in defence are given below objects that are ever dimmer and fur­ phones. The improvement and popular­ (National Research Council, 2010): ther away. Medicine struggles with simi­ ity of CCDs is attributed to NASA’s deci­ lar issues: to see things that are obscured sion to use super-sensitive CCD technol­ •  of stars and models of stel­ within the human body. Both disci­ ogy on the Hubble (Kiger lar are used to differenti­ plines require high-resolution, accurate & English, 2011). ate between plumes and cosmic and detailed images. Perhaps the most objects. The same method is now being notable example of knowledge transfer In the realm of communication, radio studied for use in early warning systems. between these two studies is the tech­ astronomy has provided a wealth of use­ • Observations of stellar distributions on nique of synthesis, developed by ful tools, devices, and data-processing the sky — which are used to point and the radio astronomer and Nobel Laureate, methods. Many successful communica­ calibrate telescopes — are also used in (Royal Swedish of tions companies were originally founded aerospace . Sciences, 1974). This technology is used by radio astronomers. The computer lan­ • Astronomers developed a solar-blind in computerised tomography (also known guage FORTH was originally created to be counter — a device which can as CT or CAT scanners), magnetic reso­ used by the Kitt Peak 36-foot telescope measure the particles of light from a nance imaging, positron emission tomog­ and went on to provide the basis for a source, during the day, without being raphy (PET) and many other medical imag­ highly profitable company (Forth Inc.). It is overwhelmed by the particles coming ing tools. now being used by FedEx worldwide for from the Sun. This is now used to detect its tracking services. Some other examples (UV) coming from the Along with these imaging techniques, of technology transfer between astronomy exhaust of a missile, allowing for a virtu­ astronomy has developed many program­ and industry are listed below (National ally false-alarm-free UV missile warning ming languages that make image process­ Research Council, 2010): system. The same technology can also ing much easier, specifically IDL and IRAF. be used to detect toxic gases. These languages are widely used for med­ • The company General Motors uses the • GPS satellites rely on astronomical ical applications (Shasharina, 2005). astronomy programming language Inter­ objects, such as and distant active Data Language (IDL) to analyse , to determine accurate posi­ Another important example of how ­ data from car crashes. tions. nomical research has contributed to the

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Figure 2. The debris objects shown in the images are an artist’s impression based on actual data. However, the debris objects are shown at an exaggerated size to make them visible at the scale shown Credit: European Space Agency medical world is in the development of be analysed faster and thus ensures were contaminated (National Research clean working areas. The manufacture more accurate changes in medication ­Council, 1991). (National Research Council, 1991). • Software for processing satellite pic­ of space-based telescopes requires an • Radio astronomers developed a method tures taken from space is now helping extremely clean environment to prevent that is now used as a non-invasive way to ­medical researchers to establish a sim­ dust or particles that might obscure or detect tumours. By combining this with ple method to implement wide-scale obstruct the or instruments on the other traditional methods, there is a now screening for Alzheimer’s disease (ESA, telescopes (such as in NASA’s STEREO an exceedingly high true-positive detec­ 2013). mission; Gruman, 2011). The cleanroom tion rate in breast patients. • Looking through the fluid-filled, con­ protocols, air filters, and bunny suits that • Small thermal sensors initially developed stantly moving eye of a living person is were developed to achieve this are now to control telescope instrument temper­ not that different from trying to observe also used in hospitals and pharmaceutical atures are now used to control heating astronomical objects through the tur­ labs (Clark, 2012). in neonatology units — units for the care bulent , and the same fun­ of newborn babies (National Research damental approach seems to work for Some more direct applications of astro­ Council, 1991). both. Adaptive used in astron­ nomical tools in medicine are listed below: • A low-energy X-ray scanner developed omy can be used for retinal imaging in by NASA is currently used for outpatient living patients to study diseases such • A collaboration between a drug com­ surgery, sports injuries, and in third- as macular degeneration and retinitis pany and the Cambridge Automatic world clinics. It has also been used by ­pigmentosa in their early stages. (­Boston Plate Measuring Facility allows blood the US Food and Drugs Administra­ Micromachines Corporation, 2010) samples from leukaemia patients to tion (FDA) to study whether certain pills

Astronomy in Everyday Life 33 Astronomy in Everyday Life

Astronomy in everyday life books and magazines about astronomy • The European Southern Observatory There are many things that people encoun­ for non-astronomers. A Brief History of (ESO) which includes 14 European ter on an everyday basis that were derived Time by Stephen Hawking is a bestseller ­countries and Brazil, and is located in from astronomical technologies. Perhaps and has sold over ten million copies and Chile. the most commonly used astronomy- ’s television series, Cosmos: A • The launch of a US by a derived invention is the wireless local area Personal Voyage, has been watched in over Japanese rocket. network (WLAN). In 1977 John O’Sullivan 60 countries by more than 500 million peo­ • Collaborations on major developed a method to sharpen images ple (NASA, 2009). such as the NASA/ESA Hubble Space from a . This same method Telescope. was applied to radio signals in general, Many non-astronomers also engaged with specifically to those dedicated to strength­ astronomy during the International ening computer networks, which is now an of Astronomy 2009 (IYA2009), the largest Conclusion integral part of all WLAN implementations education and public outreach event in (Hamaker et al., 1977). science. The IYA2009 reached upwards of It is clear that astronomy and its related eight hundred million people, through thou­ fields are at the forefront of science and Other technologies important to every­ sands of activities, in more than 148 coun­ technology; answering fundamental ques­ day life that were originally developed tries (IAU, 2010). tions and driving innovation. The impor­ for astronomy are listed below (National tance of this contribution to science and Research Council, 2010): Astronomy and international to society has been highlighted here and ­collaboration the sheer breadth of what astronomy has • X-ray observatory technology is also Scientific and technological achievements to offer will ensure that it continues to be of used in current X-ray luggage belts in give a large competitive edge to any nation. great importance to the scientific commu­ airports. Nations pride themselves on having the nity. It is this breadth of important contri­ • In airports, a gas chromatograph — for most efficient new technologies and race butions that explains why the International separating and analysing compounds — to achieve new scientific discoveries. But Astronomical Union’s strategic plan and originally designed for a mis­ perhaps more important is the way that sci­ for 2010–2020 has three main areas of sion is used to survey baggage for drugs ence can bring nations together, encour­ focus: technology and skills; ­science and and explosives. aging collaboration and creating a con­ research; and culture and society. • The police use hand-held Chemical stant flow and exchange of knowledge as Oxygen Demand (COD) photometers researchers travel around the globe to work There are still many unanswered ques­ — instruments developed by astrono­ in international facilities. tions in astronomy and it is breaking new mers for measuring light intensity — to records every day in the quest to answer check that car windows are transparent, Astronomy is particularly well suited to them, establishing the furthest distances, as determined by the law. international collaboration due to the need most massive objects, highest tempera­ • A gamma-ray spectrometer originally to have telescopes in different places tures and most violent explosions. But the used to analyse lunar soil is now used around the world, in order to see the whole American astronomer Carl Sagan showed as a non-invasive way to probe struc­ sky. At least as far back as 1887 — when us astronomy’s simplest and most inspira­ tural weakening of historical buildings or astronomers from around the world pooled tional contribution to society in his book, to look behind fragile mosaics, such as their telescope images and made the first The : in St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice. map of the whole sky — there have been international collaborations in astronomy “It has been said that astronomy is a hum- More subtle than these contributions to and in 1920, the IAU became the first inter­ bling and character-building experience. technology is the contribution that astron­ national scientific union. There is perhaps no better demonstration omy has made to our view of time. The first of the folly of human conceits than this dis- were based on the movement of In addition to the need to see the sky from tant image of our tiny world. To me, it under- the and even the way that we define different vantage points on Earth, build­ scores our responsibility to deal more kindly a second is due to astronomy. The atomic ing astronomical observatories on the with one another, and to preserve and cher- , developed in 1955, was calibrated ground and in space is extremely expen­ ish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve using astronomical Time — a sive. Therefore, most of the current and ever known.” former standard astronomical timescale planned observatories are owned by sev­ adopted by the International Astronomical eral nations. All of these collaborations Union (IAU) in 1952. This led to the inter­ have thus far been peaceful and ­ nationally agreed-upon re-definition of the ful. Some of the most notable being: second (Markowitz et al., 1958). • The Atacama Large Millimeter/submil­ These are all very tangible examples of the limeter Array (ALMA) project is a global effect astronomy has had on our everyday collaboration between Europe, USA, lives, but astronomy also plays an impor­ ­Canada, Japan, Taiwan, in partnership tant role in our culture. There are many with Chile.

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References Biographies Aitken, R. G. 1933, The Use of Astronomy, National Research Council 2010, New Worlds, Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Leaflet New Horizons in Astronomy and Astro­ Marissa J. F. Rosenberg is completing the 59, December 1933, 33–36 physics (Washington, DC, The National final year of her PhD at Leiden Observatory Bode, Cruz & Molster 2008, The ASTRONET Press ) in the Netherlands. Marissa participates in Infrastructure Roadmap: A Strategic Plan for Paris N. 2007, Hawking to experience zero EU Universe Awareness and writes a monthly European Astronomy, http://www.eso.org/ , The Daily Telegraph, http://www.tele­ astronomy article in the children’s magazine public/archives/books/pdfsm/astronet.pdf, graph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1549770/ Anorak along with science for Retrieved August 2013 Hawking-to-experience-zero-gravity.html elementary school children. Her PhD research specialises in studying excited gas in nearby Boston Micromachines Corporation, http:// Renée James, C. 2012, What has astronomy galaxies and the mechanisms that excite the www2.bostonmicromachines.com/Por­ done for you lately?, www.astronomy.com, gas. For more information, please visit www. tals/1703/docs/AO_101_White_Paper.pdf, May 2012, 30–35 strw.leidenuniv.nl/~rosenberg/. 2010 Shasharina, S. G. et al. 2005, GRIDL: high-per- Pedro Russo, Vice-President of IAU Com­ Clark, H. 2012, Modern-day cleanroom formance and distributed interactive data mission 55, is the international project man­ invented by Sandia physicist still used 50 language, High Performance Distributed ager for the educational programme EU Uni­ years later, https://share.sandia.gov/news/ Computing, HPDC-14. Proceedings. 14th verse Awareness. He is also Co-Chair of the resources/news_releases/cleanroom_50th, IEEE International Symposium, 291–292 IAU Office of Astronomy for Development’s Retrieved June 2013 StarChild, StarChild, Dr. Carl Sagan, NASA, Task Force 2, Schools and Children. Until 2012, Pedro was Editor-in-Chief of ­CAPjournal, a pub­ ESA 2013, Identifying Alzheimer’s using space http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/ lication he founded. He was also formerly the software, http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/ StarChild/whos_who_level2/sagan.html, global coordinator for the largest celebration Technology/TTP2/Identifying_Alzheimer’s_ Retrieved October 2009 of science, the International Year of Astron­ using_space_software, Retrieved July 2013 Truman, H. 1949, Inaugural Presidential omy 2009. As a planetary , he worked Finley, D. 2013, Value of , Speech, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/ with the scientific team for the Monitor­ http://www.nrao.edu/index.php/learn/radio­ whistlestop/50yr_archive/inagural20jan1949. ing Camera on ESA’s Venus Express. For more astronomy/radioastronomyvalue, Retrieved htm, Retrieved June 2013 information, please visit http://home.strw.leide­ nuniv.nl/~russo/cv.html November 2013 Wikipedia contributors 2013, Technical Pan, Gruman, J. B. 2011, Image Artifacts-Telescope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_Pan, Georgia Bladon is a professional science and Camera Defects, http://stereo.gsfc. Retrieved April 2013 communicator with an academic .gov/artifacts/artifacts_camera.shtml, in Physics with (BSc) and Science Retrieved August 2013 Communication (MSc). She has previously worked in the communication teams of ESO Hamaker, J. P., O’Sullivan, J. D. & Noordam J. and the Wellcome Trust and currently works as D. 1977, Image sharpness, Fourier optics, Editor-in-Chief of CAPjournal and project man­ and redundant-spacing , J. ager at Invisible Dust, working on large pub­ Opt. Soc. Am., 67(8), 1122–1123 lic engagement projects around the topics of Earth , Space Science and Envi­ International Astronomical Union 2010, Interna- ronment. tional Year of Astronomy 2009 Reached Hun- dreds of Millions of People: Final Report Lars Lindberg Christensen, President of Released, http://www.astronomy2009.org/ IAU Commission 55, is a science communica­ news/pressreleases/detail/iya1006, tion specialist, who is Head of the ESO educa­ Retrieved August 2013 tion and Public Outreach Department (ePOD) in Munich, Germany. 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