Astronomy as I See It

Alyssa Goodman, IIC Founding Director, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Most scientists draw pictures to communicate their ideas to each other. Goodman’s work on star formation, along with work in other fields, reveals that he seemingly qualitative world of pictures often leads to quantitative insight. This talk will tell how and why the Astronomical Medicine group at the IIC adapted medical imaging software for use on astronomical data, producing results encapsulated in the first interactive “3D PDF“ published in Nature. The speaker will also discuss her continuing collaboration with Microsoft Research on the “WorldWide Telescope“ and conclude with thoughts on general principles of data visualization, and how clarification of those principles helps both the public and scientists to learn more from scientific investigations.