|
I always enjoyed science
and sometimes even
allowed myself to dream
about becoming a
physicist. But as a girl
I was discouraged from
studying science. In
those days, science was
considered a career for
boys, not for girls. At
college, I majored in
English.
But I never forgot my
dreams of science, and
in 1969, shortly after I
graduated from Stanford
University I was
inspired by two events.
The first inspiration
came while watching
Purdue graduate Neil
Armstrong and his fellow
astronaut Buzz Aldrin
walk on the moon.
Imagine sitting in your
apartment and watching
live television images
of people who were
bouncing on the moon
nearly 240,000 miles
away! How would they get
back to Earth safely?
How did NASA send those
television pictures?
What is the moon made
of, and how was it
formed?
The second inspiration
was a PBS-TV special
about neutron stars,
which are dying stars
that started out their
lives as giants and
ended up as superdense
stars that rotate
rapidly; we observe them
on Earth as pulsing
beams of light, like
lighthouses in the sky.
I decided I wanted to
work in science no
matter what it took.
I got a job at the
Massachusetts Institute
of Technology Center for
Space Research. The job
paid next to nothing,
but the experience was
priceless. I loved the
work. My passion for it
was apparent to
everyone. And because I
enjoyed what I was
doing, I succeeded and
was eventually admitted
to graduate school. I
received my Ph.D. from
California Institute of
Technology and during my
career I have been a
researcher, a professor,
chief scientist of NASA,
and a university vice
chancellor, chancellor
and now president.
But I am, at heart, an
astrophysicist. Go
outside tonight and look
up at the sky filled
with stars and with much
more that we can’t even
see without a telescope
and special instruments.
I study that. What are
those stars made of?
What is the age and size
and shape of the
universe? How did life
form and could it exist
beyond Earth?
These are fundamental
questions, and by asking
them we define ourselves
as human beings. I
helped build an optical,
ultraviolet telescope
that is orbiting the
Earth right now,
exploring our universe.
What could be more
exciting?
Only one thing could be
more exciting to me:
Inspiring others to
explore the universe of
their own potential.
The 20th century was the
most exciting time for
learning and discovery
in the history of the
world. Building on that,
research in the 21st
century will be even
more exciting.
Nanotechnology,
bioinformatics, genomics
and proteomics,
alternative fuels, and
advanced communications
are just a few of the
areas that will
transform the way we
live and work.
I want to encourage all
people to reach for the
stars in their own lives
and explore all the
great possibilities and
opportunities opening
before them. On belay,
we are ready to climb.
By Dr. France A. Córdova
|
