老司机直播

Popular science: 老司机直播鈥檚 new astronomer-astrophysicist brings science to the people

On subways or in prisons, Ren茅e Hlo啪ek reaches out to share excitement of discovery
Ren茅e Hlo啪ek holding a globe
Ren茅e Hlo啪ek holds the observable universe in her hand. The beach ball鈥檚 surface represents the furthest we can see in microwave light, the oldest visible light in the universe. (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Imagine a subway car with a real-life scientist on board who is ready to answer some of the most fundamental questions of the universe like: What is the universe made of? How did it start? And how is it going to end?

That鈥檚 the idea behind the Science Train project. Ren茅e Hlo啪ek, an assistant professor who joined 老司机直播 in January, rode the New York subway to talk with commuters about the origin and development of the universe. The initiative and Hlo啪ek were featured in a .

鈥淚 really am passionate about bringing science to people who don't normally engage with science content 鈥 or scientists for that matter,鈥 said Hlo啪ek who is appointed to the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics and the department of Astronomy & Astrophysics. 鈥淚f I think of the amazing power of science to take you out of your own thoughts, to give you a perspective on the world that is wholly different 鈥 I want everyone to be able to experience that.鈥

Along with her work on the Science Train, Hlo啪ek is also a TED fellow, reaching large audiences through her videos: the one on the death of the universe has been viewed over 400,000 times.

 

Through the Prison Teaching Initiative in New Jersey, she has also brought cosmology to inmates who might never have encountered it in their lifetime.

Hlo啪ek also tries to inspire and support women in the sciences. She created a mentorship program for South African women scientists called the Hope-Princeton exchange to bring science students from Africa to Princeton University to work on astrophysics projects. Her own scientific journey took her from South Africa to Oxford University as a Rhodes scholar, then Princeton University as a postdoctoral research fellow before coming to 老司机直播. 

鈥淎s an African scientist, it is easy to feel isolated from the rest of the world,鈥 said Hlo啪ek. 鈥淢y desire is to bring these women to visit for a while so that they can invigorate their respective fields when they return home.鈥

Hlo啪ek, who hopes she can start a similar exchange program here, says she was drawn to 老司机直播 by the combination of 鈥渆xcellent theoretical minds and incredible instrument builders.鈥  She also wanted to be in a place 鈥渃ommitted to new telescopes, new projects and the cutting edge of observations."

At 老司机直播, she will continue to research supernovae and work in the area of cosmic microwave background. Sometimes called the afterglow of the Big Bang, this light has been travelling to us for over 13 billion years. By measuring the differences in temperature and polarization in different parts of the sky, cosmologists can discern information about the conditions at the beginning of the universe

Hlo啪ek is looking forward to teaching a small group of undergraduates in a course on the Physical and Mathematical Universes, one of the Faculty of Arts & Science鈥檚 first-year seminars.

And maybe one day you'll see her talking science on the TTC. She hopes she can bring the Science Train to Toronto.

 

The Bulletin Brief logo

Subscribe to The Bulletin Brief