This reporter covers the news from outer space
`The roots of science and philosophy are the same," says Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who works at the Chandra X-ray Center of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
McDowell is nothing if not a scientist-philosopher. He analyzes data collected by a satellite that sees X-rays generated by matter falling into black holes, exploding stars, and other energetic events going on in places that are almost unfathomably far away.
He also develops software to study the data coming back to the Chandra -- models for looking at the accretion of black holes, for example.
His aim is to answer the biggest question that a scientist can ask: What exactly is this colossal stew of energy and space we call the universe?
``Astronomy gives you a training in perspective," he says. ``When you're thinking of millions of years as a short time, it stops you from getting too depressed about the daily news."
McDowell believes that we're at a turning point in human history, one where humans move from earth to space, so since 1989 he's been meticulously recording the technical details of every space launch in Jonathan's Space Report, one of the Internet's longest-running newsletters.
``I'm the space reporter to the geek community," he says, laughing.
McDowell also brings his passion home, where his walls are lined with massive shelves of folders crammed with technical data, as well as science fiction novels and an enviable history library.
``I've always thought that Jonathan should be a professor of space history," says a colleague at the Harvard-Smithsonian, Martin Elvis. ``He knows every astronaut's glove that ever flew in orbit."
An Englishman by birth, McDowell is the son of a physicist who spent 1969 in Florida working for NASA -- and the young McDowell never forgot the excitement of that year when men first walked on the moon. He grew up mostly around the suburbs of London, a string of physics graduate students serving as his babysitters. Then came a teen internship at the Royal Observatory, followed by Cambridge University, studies under Martin Reese and Stephen Hawking, and the big questions about life and existence.
``As a teenager I wasn't religious, and in cosmology I found an explanation that made sense to me," says McDowell, now 46, but still wearing the long hair and gleeful smile of an idealist. ``I don't find living in a mechanical, logical universe depressing. We have this amazing, conciliant story about how the universe develops. The big bang, then everything simmers for 13 billion years and it comes out with us. Believing in a scientific universe gives us a lot of opportunity for valuing life and civilization."
McDowell came to the United States in the late '80s and found both a research niche at Harvard and a fondness for quasars.
To call him dedicated is an understatement, and his enthusiasm is infectious.
``Jonathan does a remarkable range of activities and does them all intensely and well," says Elvis. ``He doesn't cook or drink alcohol or engage in other distractions. Even so, I don't know how he keeps it going."
To hear him talk about X-rays or meta-data, it's clear his drive won't wane anytime soon.
``The past decade has been incredibly exciting," he says. ``We now know the age of the universe. We know that planets are constants around stars. Many questions have got some kind of answer."
The next questions are even grander. Are there other Earth-like planets? Is there life? ``A century from now, we'll know," he says.
FACT SHEET
Hometown: East Somerville.
Family: A mother and brother living in the UK.
Currently reading: ``The Dust of Empire" by Karl Meyer, about the struggles by empires throughout history to control Central Asia; also, a sci-fi novel, ``Quicksilver," by Neal Stephenson.
Favorite science fiction film: Stanley Kubrick's ``2001." ``It really captured the feeling of awe you get with astronomy."
Hobbies: Political activism for progressive causes.
On cities: ``London and Paris are my favorite places in the world. But I love Boston. It thinks it's bigger than it is, which makes a world of difference. There's lots of culture and buzz."
On funding: ``The space-astronomy program is being squeezed. Our investment in science paid off well for the nation with Hubble and the Mars Rovers. It would be a shame if we didn't continue to support that."
