Podcaster: Allen Versfeld
Title: Urban Astronomer #22: How to become an Astrophysicist?
Link: http://www.urban-astronomer.com
This podcast has been published at Urban Astronomer
Description: Welcome to the 22nd episode of the Urban Astronomer Podcast, featuring our first ever guest recording: 365 Days of Astronomy regular Dr. Paul Matt Sutter posted a podcast (on November 7th, 2017) about chasing a career in astrophysics. I felt that it was such valuable information for new physics students that I asked him if I could please replay that episode on my own podcast, and he said yes. So here it is again!
Since one of the reasons the Urban Astronomer podcast exists is to encourage young South Africans to consider astronomy as a career, or at least as something worth studying, I figured it would be a good match. Paul speaks from an American perspective, but since science is a global business, I think almost everything he says is relevant. There is a good chance that graduating scientists will travel overseas to find a research job, so much of what he says applies wherever you are.
What I appreciated most about his show is that he doesn’t gloss over uncomfortable facts. A research career is hard. The educational requirements alone are higher than anything else out there, including medicine. Universities around the world are producing more PhD’s than there are jobs, so you may well have to go work in industry, possibly not even in your field of study. But it’s good to know these things, and that doesn’t make the education worthless. Despite not working in astronomy myself, my scientific and astronomical education (incomplete though it may be) has been very valuable to me.
Bio: Allen is an amateur astronomer, an IT professional, a podcaster, a father of five beautiful kids and a barely competent chess player. He is also the director of the Astrophotography Section of the Astronomical Society of South Africa, where he coordinates and promotes the activities of people who are far better photographers than him.
Today’s sponsor: Big thanks to our Patreon supporters this month: Helge Bjorkhaug, Brett Duane, Joseph J. Biernat, Nik Whitehead, Timo Sievänen, Noel Ruppenthal, Steven Jansen, Casey Carlile, Phyllis Simon Foster
This episode of “365 Days of Astronomy” is sponsored by — no one. We still need sponsors for many days in 2017, so please consider sponsoring a day or two. Just click on the “Donate” button on the lower left side of this webpage, or contact us at signup@365daysofastronomy.org.
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End of podcast:
365 Days of Astronomy
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The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by Astrosphere New Media. Audio post-production by Richard Drumm. Bandwidth donated by libsyn.com and wizzard media. You may reproduce and distribute this audio for non-commercial purposes. Please consider supporting the podcast with a few dollars (or Euros!). Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org. This year we will celebrate more discoveries and stories from the universe. Join us and share your story. Until tomorrow! Goodbye!