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.
UNDER INVESTIGATION: Huang’s body was found just outside the bathroom and showed no signs of a struggle, and no alcohol or drugs were found Singer and actor Alien Huang (黃鴻升) was found dead at his home in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投) yesterday. He was 36. Huang was also known by the nickname Xiao Gui (“little ghost”). His body was found when his father went to check on him after being unable to reach him by telephone, and called emergency services to the house at 11am, the Taipei City Police Department said. Huang’s body, which was discovered just outside the bathroom, showed no signs of a physical struggle, and he appeared to have been dead for some time, police said, adding that no drugs or alcohol were
Scooter riders should regularly clean their helmets, especially in summer, to prevent dirt and sweat from accumulating and causing scalp problems, such as hair loss and permanent baldness, a dermatologist has warned. Poor hygiene practices by helmet wearers often lead to scalp problems, such as bacterial folliculitis, tinea capitis and seborrheic dermatitis, Lu Pei-hsuan (呂佩璇) at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital said on Aug 31. The first step to maintain good scalp care is proper hair washing, as shampoo residues can easily cause dandruff and itchy scalps, while improper scratching will cause inflammation, Lu said. The best way to wash your hair is to
INTIMIDATION: Chinese military maneuvers have mostly led to heightened support for Taiwan’s defense forces, while China appears poised to continue its campaign China’s incessant military activities in and near the Taiwan Strait over the past several months are “greater in meaning than in substance,” and are aimed at polarizing Taiwanese society, a researcher said in a report published on Friday. China has attempted to intimidate Taiwan through military threats, while at the same time calling on Taiwanese and US officials to practice restraint, which is aimed at causing a rift between those who prefer resistance against China and those who prefer peace, said Lee Kuan-cheng (李冠成), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research. “China’s goal is to obscure public awareness
CONFIRMED IN PHILIPPINES: The CECC would conduct contact tracing for the migrant workers to determine if they had come into contact with elderly people or children Six Filipinos tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning home from Taiwan, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said yesterday as it reported a case of imported COVID-19 infection, bringing the number of confirmed cases in Taiwan to 500. Philippine authorities reported four of the cases through the National IHR Focal Point, while the other two were reported by the company that they had worked for in Taiwan. The six — five women and one man — are aged from their 20s to 40s, and worked as in-home care workers, domestic workers, factory workers and sailors in Taiwan, said Minister of Health and
RSS