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| tedxhongkong.org |
Light, sound, the wind and the stars. I can see the stars. I can hear the wind. But can we HEAR the stars and SEE the wind?
Who has seen the wind?
Neither I nor you:
But when the leaves hang trembling,
The wind is passing through.
Who has seen the wind?
Neither you nor I:
But when the trees bow down their heads,
The wind is passing by.
by Christina Rossetti
Well, up til now this idea of "seeing" the wind or hearing the stars was just a poem. But now astrophysicists ARE actually HEARING the stars.
It all happened with one person's struggle to become a scientist. Specifically an astrophysicist. While Wanda Diaz Merced was studying, she was afflicted with an illness that left her blind. Somehow this was not 'seen' as an obstacle to
her. She was determined to study the stars one way or another. But how???
Sometimes you can't SEE the answer to your problem. Next time, maybe close your eyes and LISTEN. There are 5 senses. Use all 5 to understand your universe, your world, your insurmountable problem. Learn to see that sometimes, your ears are your best way to SEE things.
Wanda Diaz Merced didn't know how exactly how she would study the stars as a blind woman but her determination found a way that is changing the scientific study of stars.
The 'how' became a way to transform the movement of the stars into SOUND. Essentially she is HEARING the stars. While the rest of the astrophysicists LOOK at the stars, Wanda Diaz Merced LISTENS to them. Interestingly, this method has spawn a new way to study the stars because it gives information about the stars that can not be seen but can be only HEARD.
Her dream of studying the stars came at a very young age. She and her sister would pretend to visit distant galaxies. All that child's play imagination, worked to really inspire her when she won second place in a science fair middle school competition in the town of Guarabo, Puerto Rico. She figured if she won second place then that she can do this!Actually, Wanda does more than study the stars. She writes the computer software for other scientists to use to convert the stars into sounds which when heard the scientists can detect patterns in large amounts of seemingly random astrophysical data.
As she was working on this software a collegue helping her with this project, happened to glance at one of her data charts as he was walking out. This Harvard astrophycist also happens to be a bass player. He looks at the data and says that this pattern is none other that the Afro-Cuban CLAVE. In other words SALSA music is literally out of this world!
The Harvard astrophycist and musician, Gerhard Sonnert was inpited to create X-Ray Hydra, an album of oddly jazzy music based on her audio representations.
Fascinating how the world of music and the world of physics combine! How diverse disciplines can converge! How a little Puerto Rican girl day dreaming and playing with her sister can make that dream a reality! Now that is truly - MUSIC TO MY EARS, MY EYES, MY SOUL!
Rock on Wanda! Rock on! Star on!
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