Accidental Discoveries That Shaped Astronomy | Chris Lintott

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Brian Keating

Science, Physics, Natural Sciences

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 28 July 2024

⏱️ 77 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Science might seem opposed to chance discoveries due to its focus on meticulous methods. But surprisingly, serendipity, the art of fortunate accidents and happy discoveries, plays a big role, especially in astronomy. Some of the greatest cosmic discoveries were accidental. Unexpected findings have greatly shaped our understanding of the universe. In this episode, I had the pleasure of getting into the fascinating world of serendipitous astronomy with Chris Lintott, astrophysicist, professor, and host of BBC's "The Sky at Night." We discuss the delicate balance between speculation and scientific rigor, famous cases like the cosmic microwave background, and recent observations from the James Webb Space Telescope. Chris opens up about the role of citizen science in modern astronomy and how it's changing the way we approach cosmic mysteries. This episode might just change how you think about scientific discovery. Tune in! Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro 01:09 Many cosmic discoveries came about by accident 02:16 Importance of showing astronomy in action 03:40 Discussion of Oumuamua and interstellar objects 08:10 Importance of speculative research 15:37 Accidental discovery of the cosmic microwave background 25:06 Success of the Galaxy Zoo project 35:45 Historical context of serendipitous discoveries 47:52 James Webb Space Telescope challenging cosmological models 52:48 Balancing scientific rigor with public communication 54:45 Chris Lintott’s perspective on dark matter and dark energy — Additional resources: ➡️ Connect with Chris Lintott: Website: https://www.physics.ox.ac.uk/our-people/lintott X/Twitter: https://x.com/chrislintott The Sky at Night Program: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4jgzzH6CBH7b5K0qblb73nZ/professor-chris-lintott Our Accidental Universe Book and others: https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=Chris+Lintott —- ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/ 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	How come so many of the greatest cosmic discoveries came about by accident?
0:04.5	Should we communicate speculative scientific ideas to the public?
0:07.7	Will we ever rebuild the public's trust in science and is hype, ruining astronomy. I had the pleasure of discussing these mind-bending questions
0:16.1	with my fellow astrophysicist, fellow professor, and fellow YouTube and science communicator
0:21.2	Chris Lintop. Chris is involved in a number of the most popular science projects aimed at bringing science
0:27.0	to the public, as well as communicating them on his BBC program, the Sky at Night.
0:32.6	In this delightful conversation, we discussed everything
0:35.0	ranging from the origin of life to aliens in the universe
0:38.2	to the origin of the universe itself,
0:40.5	and how these discoveries can be best communicated to you, the public.
0:43.7	You guys pay our salary through your taxes after all.
0:46.2	So sit back and enjoy this conversation through the Cosmos as we explore accidental discoveries
0:51.4	in astronomy. Let's go. advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
1:04.0	Open the pod bay doors now.
1:07.0	Chris, I want to start off with a possibly provocative poser to you and that's the following. Half of the discoveries that are
1:17.3	so amazing in this wonderful new book aren't confirmed, we'll never be
1:22.0	confirmed, have been disconfirmed.
1:24.6	Isn't there a danger in relying on speculation and hype in astronomy as has plagued many other
1:32.3	science branches?
1:33.3	I mean your answers in the question right? Yes obviously if we accept there's hype and so on
1:39.1	then we have to be careful. I do think one of the problems with the way we talk about science inspired me to write the book which is that we tend to give the headline result right and there's usually some clever person on stage accepting an award or you know announcing a result and it
1:57.1	can seem like that was a very linear process right that my colleague Bill Kiel at Alabama talks about the Hollywood version of science
	...

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