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| Craig Tonic asks: | |
| I am in a 9th-grade honors geometry course. One requirement for the class is to research a career and discover how it relates to math and a general idea of what the career is like. I chose the career of astronomical research, and I was wondering if your observatory could assist me. I need to know what type of of math is required for your field? What college courses are necessary? What math knowledge would be helpful, yet not a requirement? Also, what does a typical day in your profession consist of? Finally, what are some current topics you are researching or anything else you might think I’ll find of use? Thank you for your time. Any help will be greatly appreciated. | |
Dr. Bruce Weaver, Director of MIRA, responds: |
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| For hundreds of years, mathematics and astronomy were nearly synonymous. Here is
a short list of some of the mathematics you would need to pursue a career in astronomy and
astrophysics. Beyond what you’ve had already, you will need, at least, solid and
spherical geometry, algebra through college algebra, analytical geometry, linear algebra
(full semester), calculus, and differential equations. Math that is probably recommended
but not required, includes statistics, partial differential equations, and numerical
analysis. Related to math, one or more courses in scientific programming is essential.
I’ve taken all of the above courses (and I am not particularly fond of math!). It is probably difficult to think of a typical day in the life of a generic astronomer. For an observing astronomer like me, a typical month includes keeping up with the astronomical literature, spending time with engineers on the development of new instruments, time in the machine and/or electronics shops building new instruments, writing software to perform scientific/engineering tasks, observing at a telescope, performing data reduction (an hour at the telescope requires two to three hours at the computer to convert the observations to calibrated measurements), writing scientific papers for publication, and reviewing the research of other astronomers for publication. Other common tasks include writing grant requests for funding of research, teaching both in an organized way (classroom) and in informal ways (answering e-mail questions such as this), interacting with other astronomers and administrative personnel, supervising whatever and whomever I’m responsible for, and strategic planning for the observatory. I’ve done all of the above at least once in the last month. |
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 Go back to Spring 2000 Newsletter index | MIRA home Last updated 1/17/01 et |
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