Carolyn Shoemaker: Advice to young women and men who might be interested in astronomy

Hillary Aiken and I had the rare opportunity to sit down with Asteroid Day supporter Carolyn Shoemaker, the legendary astronomer who co-discovered Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 (with David Levy). She once held the record for most comets discovered by an individual. Over the next few weeks we will post the full interview but here is an excerpt in which she gives some advice to young women (and also men) who might be interested in astronomy. It’s not just about “looking at the sky and find things”, Carolyn says. You have to “take as much math as possible and that’s what turns a lot of young people off… they need to take physics, they need to take chemistry and above all they need to know how to use computers”, she says.

Watch the full video (above) or download it directly from Vimeo here.

A still from the shoot:

Asteroid Day supporter, astronomer and co-discoverer of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 Carolyn Shoemaker gives a rare interview.Special Thanks to:

Carolyn Shoemaker and her son Phred.

Interviewer Hillary Aiken

Location: The Peaks, Senior Living Community