Taiwanese-American astronomer Ma Chung-pei (馬中珮), who played a key role in the discovery of a supermassive black hole, on Wednesday said that being able to keep her curiosity alive gives her patience and perseverance in her research.
Ma made the comments after NASA announced earlier in the day that a team of astronomers, led by Ma, discovered a black hole with a mass 17 times the mass of our sun in the center of a galaxy.
While finding a supermassive black hole in a large galaxy in a crowded area of the universe is to be expected — like running across a skyscraper in Manhattan — it would be much less likely to find one in one of the universe’s “small towns,” NASA said in a statement.
Ma said that the discovery has raised questions such as why a “skyscraper” of this size would exist in a “small town” and where the black hole got its mass.
The 50-year-old professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, said it has been eight years since she entered the field of black hole research, which she described as a black hole itself.
She said that she found black holes to be very interesting and that researching their nature can allow people to understand how the universe worked in the past.
In Taipei, Ma’s mother, Huang Chao-heng (黃肇珩), said that her daughter had shown great interest in astronomy ever since she was a child.
Huang, former publisher of the China Daily News and a former Control Yuan member, said that when Ma was young she would wake up in the middle of the night to watch a lunar eclipse.
Huang said she is very proud of her daughter.
She said her daughter is like a synthesis of herself and her husband, professor of journalism Ma Chi-shen (馬驥伸).
Huang said her daughter probably inherited her analytical spirit from her mother and her interest in science from her father.
‘NON-RED’: Taiwan and Ireland should work together to foster a values-driven, democratic economic system, leveraging their complementary industries, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday expressed hopes for closer ties between Taiwan and Ireland, and that both countries could collaborate to create a values-driven, democracy-centered economic system. He made the remarks while meeting with an Irish cross-party parliamentary delegation visiting Taiwan. The delegation, led by John McGuinness, deputy speaker of the Irish house of representatives, known as the Dail, includes Irish lawmakers Malcolm Byrne, Barry Ward, Ken O’Flynn and Teresa Costello. McGuinness, who chairs the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, is a friend of Taiwan, and under his leadership, the association’s influence has grown over the past few years, Lai said. Ireland is
A saleswoman, surnamed Chen (陳), earlier this month was handed an 18-month prison term for embezzling more than 2,000 pairs of shoes while working at a department store in Tainan. The Tainan District Court convicted Chen of embezzlement in a ruling on July 7, sentencing her to prison for illegally profiting NT$7.32 million (US$248,929) at the expense of her employer. Chen was also given the opportunity to reach a financial settlement, but she declined. Chen was responsible for the sales counter of Nike shoes at Tainan’s Shinkong Mitsukoshi Zhongshan branch, where she had been employed since October 2019. She had previously worked
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
TRANSPORT DISRUPTION: More than 100 ferry services were suspended due to rough seas and strong winds, and eight domestic flights were canceled, the ministry said Tropical Storm Wipha intensified slightly yesterday as it passed closest to Taiwan, dumping more than 200mm of rain in Hualien and Taitung counties, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 11am, Wipha was about 210km southwest of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and was moving west-northwest at 27km per hour (kph). The storm carried maximum sustained winds of 101kph and gusts reaching 126kph, with a 150km radius of strong winds, CWA data showed. Wipha’s outer rainbands began sweeping across Taiwan early yesterday, delivering steady rainfall in the east and scattered showers in other regions, forecasters said. More heavy rain was expected, especially in the eastern