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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS