Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 3:10
Cosmological Crazy Times! Feeling the Expanse without getting Vertigo!
And that's a very minute, little moment inside not only a huge universe, multiple universes, but over the arc of time, time that has sort of no beginning and no end from some people's perspectives. I'm going to attempt to have a conversation with Fabio today that really helps us organize our thoughts around what it is to be a human being grappling with the magnificence of the universe. As a theoretical astrophysicist by education, fabio is also an exquisite communicator
Fabio Pacucci
@fabio.pacucci · 2:49
Hi, Deborah. Thank you for having this conversation with me. It's my first well, and in general, it's the first conversation of this kind. So let's go with the flow, I guess, and see where this leads. So, hi, everyone. I'm fabulous. I'm a theoretical astrophysicist at the center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And I'm currently flying to a conference of astrophysicist in Colorado named Extreme Black Holes
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:05
I know Einstein talks about imagination a lot, so I know that it's so important because if you go down things in a straight line, you're going to miss all the curvy stuff. So around the curvy stuff is the unseen. It's the where the black holes live. Right. Can you speak to this a little bit? Imagination, wonder, playfulness
Swell Team
@Swell · 0:15
Hi, Fabio. Welcome to swell. It is such a privilege to listen to you. It personally means a lot to me. Since when I was in middle school back in India, I wanted to be an astrophysicist, probably as a result of reading too much Asimov, Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawkings. But anyways, later I discovered computers and coding, and my life took another turn. But the sense of wonder that drew me to Astrophysics is still there
Fabio Pacucci
@fabio.pacucci · 2:57
Hi, Deborah. Greetings from Colorado. It's quite cold here, and the conference is great and listen to many talks from scientists from all over the US. And actually the world. And every single one of these talks is very interesting because it deals with imagination mission. So what researchers do at the end of the day is to push the boundaries of what is known. And we do this by imagining new stuff, imagining how black holes could shine billions of years or light years away
Fabio Pacucci
@fabio.pacucci · 3:51
There are so many stars in every single galaxy. Many stars have planets, a planetary system. There are so many galaxies out there. So from the sheer number of planets that are out there, it's likely not only my opinion, but in the opinion of most people, I think that life exists or existed out there. The second perspective is are we actually going to be able to make physical contact with a possible alien civilization? Well, that's very hard
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:04
Fabio, thank you so much for both of these extraordinary answers. There's something so ebulent and possible about your approach to the work you do, and it's really contagious, and I think that's why you are thriving in your industry and teaching and collaborating, because I think, like you said said, there needs to be a very expansive perspective when you do this kind of work. And it's so long tail that maybe in your lifetime things won't happen
Fabio Pacucci
@fabio.pacucci · 2:59
Hi, Deborah. What I would like to present at a conference about black holes in, say, ten to 20 years that's a very, very interesting question because, you know, scientists like to wander and wander off with their imagination. So I might I go to answer this question with the detection of a habitable planet around a supermassive black hole that would be something that would literally blow my mind, I think
Deborah Pardes
@DBPardes · 2:00
So please feel free to start your own swell at any point just by hitting Start a New Swell under the talk button and just start your swell and keep us inside your world. It's such an honor. And yeah, that's my wish. That's my wish. I asked you yours. That's my wish to have you be here and be our resident astrophysicist. Wow, what an amazing thing that would be. Okay, looking forward. Thank you