What sparked my interest in astrophysics and the seeds of structure formation?

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EigenState137
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Greetings,

My apologies for not posting here sooner.

My research background has been in an esoteric branch of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy known as chemically induced dynamic polarization (CIDNP). Later I moved to high-resolution optical spectroscopy of selected diatomic molecules and atoms focusing on hyperfine structure interactions.

While at The University of Chicago, I had the good fortune to be exposed to a couple of astrophysicists, Chandrasekhar in particular. That spurred an interest in astrophysics which unfortunately lay dormant because of immediate professional responsibilities.

Later, with more time available, I became an early participant in the Galaxy Zoo project where I again had the good fortune to interact with a number of astronomers and cosmologists. While there, I was able to contribute to the analysis of an unusual visible spectrum of a DZ white dwarf.

It was there as well that my interest in the seeds of structure formation developed. It is that interest that brought me here. I will be posting questions as soon as time permits given my current involvement in several spectroscopy related threads.

I look forward to learning!ES
 
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Nice. :smile:
 
EigenState137 said:
While at The University of Chicago, I had the good fortune to be exposed to a couple of astrophysicists, Chandrasekhar in particular.
Very cool, one of my favorite textbooks is one of his called "The mathematical theory of black holes". Was he easily approachable?
 
romsofia said:
Very cool, one of my favorite textbooks is one of his called "The mathematical theory of black holes". Was he easily approachable?
Greetings,

I did not have the honor to meet Chandra personally--only to sit in of some of his lectures. However, by reputation he was the consummate gentleman and devoted to his students. I found Wigner, Abragam, and Zewail to be the same.

"Chandra: A Biography of S. Chandrasekhar" by Kameshwar C Wali, University of Chicago Press (1984) is well worth the read. The anecdote about Yang and Lee is priceless.ES
 
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