Astronomy Professor Dr. Emily Levesque – BGM Interview
Dr. Emily Levesque is a professor in the University of Washington’s astronomy department. Her research program is focused on improving our overall understanding of how massive stars evolve and die. She received her bachelors in physics from MIT and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the University of Hawaii.
Emily knew she wanted to be an astronomer from the moment she saw Halley’s comet in the night sky as a child. As an undergraduate at MIT, she was already developing a technical interest in massive stars, the focus of her career. And so we explored massive stars in some detail: formation, evolution and the final fate for many: supernova. Is Betelgeuse, in our own stellar backyard, about to go supernova? Emily weighs in. We finished with a discussion of her new book The Last Stargazers.. It shares the tales and experiences of astronomical observing. And, finally, spiders and lasers.
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Show Notes
My Background Mode interview with Dr. Emily Levesque
- Emily on Twitter.
- Emily's faculty page.
- Emily's home page.
- Emily's Wikipedia page.
- Discussed: Thorne–Żytkow objects
- The Last Stargazers (book) website.
- Amazon: The Last Stargazers.
- Support TMO when you buy your Apple gear from Apple.
- The story of my Background Mode podcast.
- Inside TMO’s Background Mode podcast.
- TMO Background Mode Twitter feed.
- Archive of all Background Mode Shows.
- Background Mode at iTunes.
- Send your comments to [email protected] or [email protected]