Join me for a series of posts that explores the development of the material for my public lecture on Thursday, March 14, entitled “Catch a Dying Star: Astronomy Deep Underground”. Today, I explore the origin of the title and the material that is the rough foundation of the lecture.
The title’s origin
The astronomer, Donald D. Clayton, is one of the most famous students from my former physics department at Southern Methodist University. He graduated from SMU in 1956 and went on to a famed career in astronomy. You can read about his accomplishments from his WIkipedia page. When I was a tenured professor at SMU, I accidentally discovered his autobiography while searching for information about a former faculty member, Frank C. McDonald. McDonald was department chair when Clayton was an undergraduate. He gave Clayton his first university research job, a story recounted in the biography.
Clayton’s life story was entitled “Catch a Falling Star“, and I always liked the way that title felt. Clearly, the author was both an impressive astronomer and a fan of music (see Perry Como) and double meanings. I recently “crossed paths” again with Clayton when my current PhD student showed me a book he was using as a reference. That turned out to be Clayton’s 1968 Principles of Stellar Evolution and Nucleosynthesis. I was so captivated by Clayton’s career and his tales of life at SMU that I devoted an episode of my short-lived pandemic podcast, “Uncertainty Principles”, to a reading from his biography.
“Catch a Dying Star” is an homage to Clayton, my connection to him through my past at SMU, and the fact that he was such a successful astronomer that I keep running into him (now through my own students). I had wanted to host him for a special lecture at SMU in 2021 or 2022, but was never able to get ahold of him. I learned recently he passed away in 2024, and I am sorry I never had a chance to meet or thank him.
The lecture story
The lecture this coming Thursday will tell the tale of a star that died spectacularly, long ago, and what happened when the first pieces of that explosion reached Earth. I put down the roots of this lecture last year when I delivered a colloquium at Siena College on this subject. That talk was aimed at a broad university audience, and it must be transformed into something more elegant and sweeping to become the public lecture this week.
I’ll talk more about that transformation as the week progresses.
About the Lecture
“Catch a Dying Star: Astronomy Deep Underground” will be delivered at the Sanford Underground Research Facility’s visitor centre on Thursday, March 14 from 5-7pm (the event includes the talk, time for questions and discussion, and a reception).
Learn more:
https://www.blackhillsbadlands.com/events/catch-dying-star-astronomy-deep-underground
