January 28, 2016

What's New? Astrophysics!

It's certainly been a while since I've written a blog post.  A lot has changed since February 2012.  I graduated from Southern Miss with my bachelor's and am now at Florida State working on my PhD in Astrophysics!  In 2012, I would have never guessed that in a few years I'd be doing research in astrophysics (hence the background change) with only a few years left until I'm Dr. Bloor.  I was just going through my old posts and was having some serious nostalgia.  Then that got me thinking: what is my new post going to be about?

Whenever I tell someone I'm working on a degree in astrophysics, I always get "You must love the Big Bang Theory" or "How do you feel about Neil deGrasse Tyson?"  Both of which the answer to is "Ugh."

I'm not a fan of either.  I understand that the Big Bang theory is funny and that they do incorporate actual physics into some shows (so I've heard), but it plays into the huge stereotype of physicists.  True, it's a male dominated field.  And granted, most are nerds.  But as a woman (and I consider myself to be pretty normal), it's tough to be around the Sheldons every. single. day.

And then there's the infamous astrophysicist Neil... He's the guy that pointed out the inconsistencies in the Titanic film regarding the stars and blah, blah, blah.  And if you follow him on twitter, you'd see that he's constantly trying to correct people and start arguments.  How does he even have time to do science???

Anyways, I've been reading through Proverbs this month (there are 31 chapters and 31 days in January, so I thought it would be a good refresher of the book).  And there are so many verses that speak about arguing and being quarrelsome.  Then I thought about how argumentative Dr. Tyson is and how I thought it was rude.  And actually, it's not a becoming quality to have.  Proverbs 20:3 says, "Every fool is quick to quarrel."  There are other good ones too: "Interfering in someone else's argument is as foolish as yanking a dog's ears," Proverbs 26:17 and "A quarrelsome wife is like the constant dripping of a leaky roof," Proverbs 19:13.

It's hard being a field with people who are so concerned and set on being right.  Yes, a scientist's goal is to make others see his point of view.  But there are those that are so focused on being right without caring that they look arrogant and look down their nose at those who don't agree with them.  Didn't we get to where we are in science by questioning those who thought they knew all the answers?

Sorry to go down such a rabbit hole, but clearly I feel very passionate about the subject.  Anyways, let's all just get along!

Shine This Week!