Proud to be part of LJMU,
in partnership with the Dill Faulkes Educational Trust

 

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History

Thebe Medupe

Early Life

Thebe was born in a rural village in north-west South Africa. He spent his childhood playing outside and sitting by the fire listening to his grandparents tell stories. Thebe went to school in the city of Mmabatho where he became interested in science. He saw Halley’s comet when he was 13 and this inspired him to build his own telescope. He learned how to make a telescope using household items from a book in his local library.

 

Year born: 1973

Research Areas: Variable Stars

 

Haida Liang

Early Life

Haida grew up in Shanghai, China but moved to Sydney, Australia to finish school. At first, she struggled to understand the Australian accent, despite speaking English. This meant that she enjoyed maths and physics classes most because the equations were universal. At university, she started a medical degree, as she thought if you got good grades that’s what you should study. She soon missed physics and maths and transferred to the physics department.

Research Areas: Imaging and Sensing, Conservation, Science and Art

 

"I’m working on the boundary between optical imaging and history… physics and history are the two things that I love."

Anthony Aveni

Early Life

Anthony grew up in West Haven, Connecticut in the USA and attended a poor inner-city school. He went to Boston University where he just passed his degree in physics. Anthony went on to study for a PhD at the University of Arizona, working on the new telescope at Kitt Peak. During this time, Anthony and his wife were struggling to get by, and so he started to look for jobs which earned more money. He managed to get a position at Colgate University and moved across the country to New York State.

Year born: 1938

Research Areas: Archaeoastronomy, Ancient Astronomy in the Americas, Mayans

 

Jarita Holbrook

 

Early Life

Jarita was born in Hawaii and grew up in California in the USA. They are from a family with strong academic links (both parents got science degrees) and Jarita decided to follow in their parents' footsteps and studied physics at Caltech. Jarita went on to get a PhD in astrophysics from the University of California, investigating star formation.

Year born: 1965

Research Areas: History, Cultural Studies of Astronomy, African Indigenous Astronomy

 

Allan Chapman

Early Life

Allan was born in Swinton, Lancashire in the north of England. As a child, he was always interested in tinkering and making things. He made his own telescope when he was 11 and used it to look at the Moon. He was from a working-class family and career options were limited. When he left school without qualifications, he was expected to start work in a local factory. Instead, Allan decided to get a job in a local library.

Year born: 1946

Research Areas: History of Science, History of Astronomy, Broadcasting

 

History

 

Perhaps you are more interested in history but like astronomy as a hobby? Well, there are careers looking at the history of astronomy, both ancient and modern.

If you love history and astronomy, then these jobs might interest you: Historian (Astronomy, Science or Cultural), Author, Museum Curator, Librarian, Archaeoastronomer, Conservationist, Anthropologist. Many people working in this field, work in both a physics and an arts department.

 


 

You may think that astronomy, a science, and history are poles apart. In fact, many astronomers love history, and many historians are interested in space.