What is an Astrophysicist?

We are a combination of astronomers who study the sky and universe, and physicists who study the rules of the Universe. Combining these powers we can try and understand what makes things tick out there in the cosmos. Astrophysicist’s can study anything and everything from asteroids to blackholes and even dark matter.

How did you become an Astronomer?

I have wanted to study the Universe since my very first day of University, but my path is not the only one and if you want to learn something, remember you can get there along a million different paths. For me, my path was first studying a Bachelor of Science majoring in Physics and minoring in Astrophysics. This taught me the basics of the physical Universe.

After completing my Bachelors, I did my Honours degree, a year of research and course work. For my Honours project, I worked as a part of the Australian Dark Energy Survey, simulating millions of supernovae to figure out if they could fool us in our large-scale surveys. I loved this year! I got to work with A/Prof. Chris Lidman and learnt so much, including how to observe at Australia’s biggest optical telescope, the AAT.

I was well and truly hooked on Astronomy by this point and applied to continue studying in PhD programs. It was tricky figuring out which direction and project to take, but I finally decided to move to Melbourne to do a PhD at Swinburne University. Here I got to co-lead the Deeper Wider Faster program under the supervision of Prof. Jeff Cooke. I’ve been a researcher ever since!

What does a day in the life of a scientist look like?

Every scientist has a different day from each other one of the best things about the job is that our work changes daily. My days can be filled with meetings, working in our human cyber lab doing experiments, teaching students, or observing on a telescope.

But one thing I didn’t expect when I was younger was just how much programming I would do! Most days are spent with at least some time working on writing and running unique computer code that I’ve written.

When I have spare moments throughout the week, I explain astronomy and space to the general public via TV, Radio and writing articles.

Do you have Book recommendations?

I LOVE reading everything from sci-fi, mysteries and, of course, non-fiction. I love to learn not just about astronomy but all the other wonders in the world and Universe. Books you'll find me recommending at dinner parties, and coffee breaks are:

• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado-Perez. Just incredible and hopefully ignites your passion for changing biases in our world. 

• Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. Every human should read or listen to this book. It's about us, after all. 

• The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. An absolute joy to read and a fun way to look at our existence in the Universe via fabulous characters. I love it so much I have the number 42 tattooed on my arm. 

• Lost in Time by A.G Riddle. This is the perfect book for anyone interested in theoretical time travel. As a physicist I enjoyed this so much, not only as a great story but as a way to try and reconcile what time travel would do, physically speaking.  

• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. SO good. Andy always delivers epic stories and great sci-fi. I've never cried over a spider rock before reading this, but here we are. 

• Verity by Colleen Hoover. I just need more people to read this so I can ask 'WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE ENDING?'. Seriously @ me and let me know! 

Why is there a gender in balance in STEM, how do we help fix it?

This is a huge question but an important one. Historically women and gender minorities have been denied opportunities for education and careers in STEM, and it’s had significant effects on the representation we’ve seen over the last 100 years. It’s unfortunately created an environment where women's skills and abilities aren’t recognised as equal. There are many studies on these biases in STEM, but it’s not too late to change! A great place to start is reading this article: https://bigthink.com/the-learning-curve/biases-in-stem/

What did you want to be growing up?

I wanted to be so many different things (and still do), archaeologist, historian, marine Biologist, human rights lawyer, and documentary film-maker.

Pretty wide range of things, but all had the same things in common: science, understanding and compassion.

I’ve always wanted to know as much as possible about the world and the universe and the chance to make it better. My investigative questioning started at a young age. I remember asking my Mum when I was in primary school, ‘what is the Universe in’ and ‘Why do we exist’. Yeah, I know intense for a child, but here I am 20 years later, still wondering those same questions.

Would you go to space?

Yes and No. Would I travel up for a holiday in a space hotel or fancy high-altitude balloon to look at the Earth from afar? Absolutely!

Would I book a one-way ticket to Mars? Absolutely not.

I would miss dogs too much.

Is space infinite?

I sway heavily towards yes. We know the universe had a beginning with the Big Bang. And from what we observe, this beginning didn't occur in any one area. No matter where you are in the universe (in this galaxy or one far, far away), space appears to be expanding in all directions, with you at the centre. Now, we calculate the universe is about 13.8 billion years old, which means that's how much time space has had to expand. So logically, we'd expect space to be 13.8 billion light-years across, right?

But the size of the observable universe is 46 billion light years in radius, meaning the very first light we can see emitted (380,000 years after the Big Bang), came from a distance that is now 46 billion light years away. So there's no reason to suggest the edge of the observable universe is the edge of the actual universe.

We think of things as having 3D shapes: a sphere, a cube, or a cone. So we could think of the universe as a sphere expanding indefinitely and infinitely. Or it might curve and bend in ways that could make it a closed system (like a donut), where if you were to travel in a straight line for long enough, eventually you'd end up back where you started: space would be finite.

But I lean towards another possibility, which considers the rapid inflation that followed the Big Bang. There's a theory this inflation is actually eternal inflation, meaning it's constantly occurring at one point or another in the universe — rendering the universe infinite. This begins to dive into the mind-boggling idea of quantum fluctuations and even multiverses. And being the sci-fi lover I am, how could I not want this to be true?