Running Out of Matter with Michelle Thaller
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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ifolor.fi IC-Juna25 rushed past the dustbin. Ranneke kädessään enomma katseli, kun esiintyjä aloitteli settiään. Tunnelma oli innostunut. Tannereipölissyt eivätkä ihmiset tungeksineet. Ruoka oli lämmintä ja juomat kylmiä. Vessoissakin riitti käsisaippuaa. Festarijuna ei ollut hullumpi aloitus viikonlopulle. Me huolehdimme matkasta. Sinä päätät, miten sen käytät. VR. Yhteisellä matkalla.
Chuck, we finally got Michelle Fowler on StarTalk, a friend, a colleague, and science educator. We love these folk. Oh, yeah. She's fun. She's got the energy that we all want and seek of someone who's enthusiastic about the moving frontier of the universe.
The energy of a neutron star in the compact form of an astrophysicist. Ooh. That came out of the show. I got that from the show we just did.
That's the highest compliment I've ever heard anyone get who's an astrophysicist. Coming right up on StarTalk. Welcome to StarTalk. Your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. Got with me Chuck Nice. How you doing, man? What's up, Neil? All right. We're doing Cosmic Queries today. Yes, we are. With an old friend and colleague, Michelle Fowler. Michelle, welcome to StarTalk.
Hey.
It is wonderful to be here. Great to be talking to you guys. Yeah. So you're not only a fellow astrophysicist, you're a fellow science communicator. And we love that species of scientist out there.
Who is Michelle Thaller and why is she on this StarTalk episode?
You were recently of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. But the last time you weren't recently of it, you were of it. So how recently have you no longer been part of them?
Yeah, I retired in October. I think it was October 2024. Okay. Yeah, so I've been retired for a couple of years. I've been doing speaking. I've been doing a lot of lecturing with Smithsonian Journeys. That's been a lot of fun. I know them, yes. Yeah, just having fun being a freelance astrophysicist. There you go.
Nice. Whoa, astrophysicist at large. We got a personal astrophysicist and a freelance astrophysicist.
We can talk about whatever you want. I'm not working for anybody. I'm not working for anybody.
I like that. Let me just finish up with your CV here. You were a research scientist with the Spitzer Space Telescope, one of the big, what do they call them?
The great observatories, yes.
Great observatories. And that one was a band of the spectrum that Hubble did not cover. So that was infrared, right? The Spitzer Telescope?
That's right, yeah.
Could you straighten us out here? Locally, we have the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who lost their lease with Columbia as it was removed by the White House. Yes. But that has the word Goddard in it. And then we have the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. They're both NASA. Could you just help us distinguish the two?
Well, yes. So the Goddard Institute for Space Studies has for a long, long time been the center for NASA, basically earth science, climate science. Yes. And so that was the thing. So they had a very close link to Columbia University. Columbia University leased this building to them. Famously, it's the building that if you remember Seinfeld, you know, the sitcom Seinfeld, it's the cafe. The diner. It's that building. Yeah, that's right. The diner's in that building. It just says restaurant on the front. Yeah, absolutely.
It's the greatest name for any eatery ever. It's a restaurant.
Yeah, yeah. So, I mean, absolute heroes of mine work there. I mean, these are the people that are doing, you know, they're in the middle of Antarctica ground truthing measurements from satellites. They're making sure we understand what's going on with, you know, the atmosphere and the oceans and all of that.
You could say it, Michelle. You could say they're doing God's work. You could say that.
You're doing God's work.
Goddard's work.
Goddard's work.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–2:09
2
Who is Michelle Thaller and why is she on this StarTalk episode?
2:09–21:13
3
How have recent NASA budget cuts affected Goddard and scientists' careers?
21:13–51:49
4
When a photon is absorbed and re-emitted, does it become a new quantum photon?
51:49–1:01:51