From Dr. Becky.
The full unedited version of my interview with Mark Clampin, the Director of the Astrophysics Division at NASA. We chatted about the Habitable Worlds Observatory, including how it will be different to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and how the plan is to use it to take a direct images of Earth-like exoplanets and study their atmospheres for biosignatures. I also couldn’t help but ask Mark about his career path and how he became NASA’s Director of Astrophysics.
Last week’s video on the Habitable Worlds Observatory – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2JIkAPcdnU
More on Mark Clampin – https://science.nasa.gov/people/dr-mark-clampin/
Follow Mark on LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-clampin-7331b731
00:00 – Introduction
00:32 – Introducing Mark Clampin
00:37 – What does the head of Astrophysics at NASA do?
01:52 – How long has Mark been in this job?
04:12 – Why was the Habitable Worlds Observatory project chosen? NASA’s decision making process.
07:13 – What will the Habitable Worlds Observatory give us that we’ve never had before?
10:10 – Is the biggest leap from the telescope or coronagraph technology?
10:46 – What is Mark’s science research focus?
11:47 – Mark’s career path – how do you become head of astrophysics at NASA?!
15:45 – What’s going to be the biggest chance in how we do astronomy/astrophysics in the next few decades?
17:29 – Outro
Video filmed on a Sony ⍺7 IV & iPhone 13 Pro
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👩🏽💻 I’m Dr. Becky Smethurst, an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). I love making videos about science with an unnatural level of enthusiasm. I like to focus on how we know things, not just what we know. And especially, the things we still don’t know. If you’ve ever wondered about something in space and couldn’t find an answer online – you can ask me! My day job is to do research into how supermassive black holes can affect the galaxies that they live in. In particular, I look at whether the energy output from the disk of material orbiting around a growing supermassive black hole can stop a galaxy from forming stars.
