keplercryptids:

launchpadastro:

milkdromeduh:

fallingpanicdiscoboy:

thislifeinfocus:

the-future-now:

follow @the-future-now

HOLY FUCK THE FEELS. THE CHILLS. 

@studythesunshineflowers

I’m going to scream this is incredible. I want to know everything about her breakthrough, now.

Really?!  People are posting about a BLIND astronomer, and nobody thought to caption these images (all gifs)?  Well here I go.  (–ACS)

1
Text: This astrophysicist lost her sight, so she learned to listen to the stars.
Image: Close-up of a woman holding a cane giving a TED talk.

2
Text: And made a scientific breakthrough.
Image: A brightly flashing star.

3
Text: As a kid in Puerto Rico, Wanda Diaz-Merced dreamt of being an astronaut
Image: Upwards pan of a city scene with brightly colored buildings

4
Text: She earned a doctoral degree in astrophysics.
Image: Rotating photo of the Milky Way galaxy

5
Text: But a long illness let Diaz-Merced blind and threatened her studies.
Image: A hand, with fingers tracing over Braille text.

6
Text: Determined not to give up, she realized she could turn data points into sound.
Image: Drawing of twinkling stars

7
Text: Through sonification, Diaz-Merced was able to pursue a career in astrophysics.
Image: Same TED talk, a bit further zoomed out, Diaz-Merced is gesturing as she talks, and has a Mac laptop open on the table in front of her.

8
Text: By listening to the behavior of stars, she began noticing thigns no one could see, or hear, before.
Image: Time lapse photo of the Milky Way galaxy rotating against a foreground of mountains.

9
Text: Diaz-Merced linked star formation to gamma ray bursts – a new idea in astrophysics.
Image: Artist’s conception of flying past stars towards a nebula.

10
Text: Her work has helped astrophysicists consider sound as a new way of analyzing stars.
Image: Same TED talk, now zoomed out to show Diaz-Merced is standing in front of a screen which shows a graphical representation of the sonification, which shows data that is mostly flat (with noise scattering), and one peak towards the right.

11
Text: “If people with disabilities are allowed into the scientific field, an explosion, a huge titanic burst of knowledge will take place.” –Wanda Diaz-Merced, astrophysicist
Image: Background is another time lapse of the Milky Way, this time against a foreground of plants.  The text is superimposed on this image in a way to show that it is a direct quote from Diaz-Merced.

thank you for the descriptions!

content about disabled people should at the very least be accessible to disabled people!