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In his last class of alumnus school at Stanford University , David Bennett bump to read an article in theAstrophysical Journalthat discussed thegravitational microlensingmethod . Though he had been train as a theoretical particle physicist and cosmologist , the power of this method impressed him . Microlensing is a special case of gravitational lensing , in which freestanding image can not be resolve but shift magnifications are detectable .
The MOA-II telescope with the Mt. John Observatory 0.61m telescope dome in the background at dusk. C
He think it could be used to work astrophysics problems , like those concerning the nature of the orphic disconsolate thing . Dark issue is the invisible stuff that seduce up over 80 per centum of the universe ; it does n’t emit or scatter light or other electromagnetic radiotherapy , and so can not be directly detected via optical or wireless astronomy .
He calibrate in 1986 , but the microlensing method acting stuck with him . Several years later , he helped form a radical , known as theMACHOcollaboration , that would use the microlensing method acting to study blue matter . He continued to turn in the theater as astronomers shifted the focus of microlensing observations from the search for dreary affair to the report of extrasolar ( not orb the sunshine ) planets .
As a research professor at the University of Notre Dame , he currently quest for the bailiwick of extrasolar planets as a member of both theMOAandPLANETcollaborations and has led the crusade to deport a microlensing major planet hunting from infinite . A outer space - based extrasolar satellite search using the microlensing method is a major part of theWFIRSTmission , which was range as the top priority turgid space mission by the National Academy of Sciences ' Astro2010 Decadal Survey .
The MOA-II telescope with the Mt. John Observatory 0.61m telescope dome in the background at dusk. C
Name : David BennettAge:52Institution : University of Notre DameField of Study : Astrophysics
What prompt you to take this field of study?My chief stirring do from the fact that I had a role in make the orbit of data-based gravitative microlensing . I was school as a theoretical particle physicist , and was very concerned in the dark matter problem in the 1980s , when I noticed Bohdan Paczynski ’s 1986 paper designate that baryonic dark matter could be either discover or definitively rule out .
In a ( presumably ) somewhat tongue - in - hitch early story of microlensing , Paczynski attributed my enthusiasm for this method to my ignorance of uranology . Unlike veteran astronomers , I " did not fuck the project could not be done . " I suggest the project to Charles Alcock , who was then at the Lawrence Livermore National Lab , a few year later . I occur out to Livermore as a postdoctoral researcher when Alcock decided to pursue it .
Image of gravitational microlensing pioneer David Bennett.
It was quite a change from my earlier work on the evolution of cosmic strings in the early existence . Just after the observational gravitative microlensing projects got start , Shude Mao and Paczynski show out that extrasolar planets could be find by microlensing . After the first microlensing events , the great unwashed began to wonder if microlensing could find ground - mass planet . So , I team up up with lensing - theory expert Sun Hong Rhie to undertake this problem , and I ’ve been working on finding exoplanets with gravitative microlensing ever since .
What is the best piece of advice you ever received?One very good piece of advice that I did n’t take go on during the Pons - Fleischmann " cold unification " debacle of 1989 . Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann had claimed to achieve atomic fusion in the electrolysis of heavy water system using electrode made of palladium , but it shortly became clear to physicist that this claim could n’t maybe be correct .
If their claim had been correct , it would intend an inexpensive , near limitless , author of vigour with very little in the way of resulting pollution , and so , by now it would be feed most of our power plants . I was working as a postdoctoral investigator in the Princetonphysics department at the time , and some of the condensed matter physicists at Princeton had a financial market scheme to profit off of this .
Professors Yasushi Muraki of Nagoya University (left) and David Bennett of the University of Notre Dame (right) in front of the MOA-II 1.8m telescope at the Mt. John University Observatory located on New Zealand’s South Island. Muraki’s group at Nagoya University built the telescope and its wide field-of-view camera, which is used for the MOA collaboration’s gravitational microlensing survey involving Bennett and Muraki, as well as a number of other collaborators from Japan and New Zealand.
They bought Pd futures straightaway when the Pons - Fleischmann paper came out , and then made " short sale " of palladium futures after the palladium price arise . They made a peachy deal of money based on what was essentially common noesis among physicist . But , I did not follow this advice because I was quite unfamiliar with financial markets .
What was your first scientific experimentation as a child?I do n’t in reality recall doing any real scientific experiments as a child , although I did build and fly a few modelling rockets . I always wanted to be a theoretician rather than an experimentalist or an observer when I was a kid . It was n’t until I had my Ph.D. and was work out as a theoretical cosmologist that I realize how rewarding experimental cathartic and observational astronomy could be .
What is your favorite matter about being a researcher?It is a real delight to be able-bodied to take new things about our universe that were n’t previously known . In my own field of battle , we must analyse change in brightness of a microlensed star due to the foreground electron lens system of rules ( a lead and one or more planet ) pass along in front of it . This is refer to as a " faint curve , " and it is broadly a satisfying mo when you successfully model the wanton curve to check the nature of the lens arrangement responsible for the microlensing consequence . But the statistical analysis of many events can be even more rewarding because that tell apart us thing about the general properties of planetary systems that were n’t previously known .
Mt. John University Observatory with Lake Tekapo in the background. The MOA-II telescope is on the far left.
What is the most important machine characteristic a research worker must demonstrate for be an effective researcher?It is difficult to single out one characteristic as the most crucial , but one thing that is very significant in astronomy is skepticism and creativeness in finding ways to prove what you retrieve might be a novel discovery . In astronomy , we do n’t have the object of our enquiry in our labs , and we are define in the information that we can gather . So , we often have to be quite resourceful in ordination to establish whether our interpretation of a set of observations is correct or wrong .
What are the societal benefits of your research?I suppose that many people think that astronomy research has few societal benefit , but this opinion muse a very narrow prospect of the interrogation . Astronomical fields like cosmology and the report of extrasolar planets teach us things that a large fraction of society is concerned in knowing , and that , itself , is a benefit to society .
Recall the yell a few twelvemonth back when the lastHubble Space Telescopeservicing mission was ( temporarily ) set off , or find the current public outcry over the threat that theJames Webb Space Telescopemight be canceled . It is clear that the knowledge gained from astronomical inquiry in general and the search for extrasolar satellite , in especial , is consider a benefit to society .
An even enceinte benefit to lodge comes from the inspirational effect of these discoveries . These discovery excite immature the great unwashed and advance them to further their education in the hopes of contributing to this character of science . But in the physical process of furthering their Education Department , they often discover other , somewhat more obscure , fields of study that have more verbatim economic benefits to fellowship . So the inspirational aspect of extrasolar planet find does provide a direct welfare to society .
Who has had the most influence on your thinking as a researcher ?
Although I seldom forge with him directly , I would have to say that the belated Bohdan Paczynski has had the most influence on me . It was his 1986 paper on gravitative microlensing that get me interested in the field . Then , afterward on , as a appendage of theOGLEcollaboration , he pushed the theme that microlensing data should be made available to percipient from other chemical group straightaway , so that maintain conclusion on ongoing event could be made found on the complete set of data .
This was contrary to the militant instincts of many of us in other observing group , but this scheme of " putting the skill first , " forwards of personal reward , has been subservient in the discovery of extrasolar planets with the microlensing method acting . All of the planets chance upon by microlensing to date have involved collaboration of several autonomous groups . If we had n’t travel along Paczynski ’s advice , it is quite possible that no planets would ever have been discovered using microlensing .
What about your field or being a research worker do you think would storm people the most?Many citizenry know that the first paper to trace gravitational lensing was put out by Einstein in 1936 . This is perhaps Einstein ’s most well known paper written in English . However , it is less well known that Einstein only write the newspaper rather reluctantly after persistent prodding by Rudy W. Mandel , a Czech applied scientist who had apparently traveled from Europe to Princeton for the function of getting Einstein to compose the paper .
Einstein feel it necessary to rationalise to the diary editor in chief after the newspaper was published . He state that the paper was , " of little value , but it makes the poor bozo felicitous , " touch on to Mandel . He thought that the gravitational lensing effect required such perfect alignment between the lens star and the setting source star that it would never be observe .
The first gravitational ( micro)lensing consequence due to stars were discovered in 1993 , and by now , more than 1000 are seen every year . One microlensing event was even chance on by a Japanese amateur uranologist look through binoculars in 2007 .
recreational astronomers have more success in helping to discover the planetary signals in microlensing events ( that were discovered by the microlensing resume run by the OGLE and MOA group ) . Although their telescope are small , they never run into the job that someone else is scheduled to use their telescope at the vital time to look for planetary signaling .
If you could only rescue one affair from your burning authority or lab , what would it be ?
Well , I ’d in all likelihood snap up my laptop from my office because it is easy to impart , but I do n’t really have any datum that is n’t back up . My " labs " consist of a number of observatories grand of miles off in the Southern Hemisphere , and it is the telescopes in those observatories that I would most require to save . But , it simply is n’t practical to move them . alas , I have some lineal experience with this as two telescope that I previously used were put down in a 2003 fire at Mt. Stromlo Observatory in Australia .
What music do you play most often in your research laboratory or car?I usually listen to classic stone bands like The Who or the Rolling Stones , plus some newer striation recommend by my daughter . I often act music in my office as it drowns out outside sounds that would otherwise be distracting .
