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In The Smallest Lights in the Universe , MIT astrophysicist Sara Seager interweaves the story of her search for meaning and solace after losing her first husband to cancer, her unflagging search for an Earth-like exoplanet and her unexpected discovery of new love.
Sara Seager has made it her life's work to peer into the spaces around stars – looking for exoplanets outside our solar system, hoping to find the one-in-a-billion world enough like ours to sustain life. But with the unexpected death of her husband, her life became an empty, lightless space. Suddenly, she was the single mother of two young boys, a widow at forty, clinging to three crumpled pages of instructions her husband had written for things like grocery shopping – things he had done while she did pioneering work as a planetary scientist at MIT. She became painfully conscious of her Asperger's, which before losing her husband had felt more like background noise. She felt, for the first time, alone in the universe.
In this probing, invigoratingly honest memoir, Seager tells the story of how, as she stumblingly navigated the world of grief, she also kept looking for other worlds. She continues to develop ground-breaking projects, such as the Starshade, a sunflower-shaped instrument that, when launched into space, unfurls itself so as to block planet-obscuring starlight, and she takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets. At the same time, she discovers what feels every bit as wondrous: other people, reaching out across the space of her grief.
Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering consolation and advice, and her beloved sons, Max and Alex. Most unexpected of all, there is another kind of one-in-a-billion match with an amateur astronomer. Equally attuned to the wonders of deep space and human connection, The Smallest Lights in the Universe is its own light in the dark.
About the Author
Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and a professor of physics and planetary science at MIT. She led NASA's Probe Study team for the Starshade project. Her research is focused on the search for the first Earth-like exoplanet, and she has introduced many new ideas to the field of exoplanet characterization, including work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere. She lives with her husband and sons in Concord, Massachusetts.
Sara Seager has made it her life's work to peer into the spaces around stars – looking for exoplanets outside our solar system, hoping to find the one-in-a-billion world enough like ours to sustain life. But with the unexpected death of her husband, her life became an empty, lightless space. Suddenly, she was the single mother of two young boys, a widow at forty, clinging to three crumpled pages of instructions her husband had written for things like grocery shopping – things he had done while she did pioneering work as a planetary scientist at MIT. She became painfully conscious of her Asperger's, which before losing her husband had felt more like background noise. She felt, for the first time, alone in the universe.
In this probing, invigoratingly honest memoir, Seager tells the story of how, as she stumblingly navigated the world of grief, she also kept looking for other worlds. She continues to develop ground-breaking projects, such as the Starshade, a sunflower-shaped instrument that, when launched into space, unfurls itself so as to block planet-obscuring starlight, and she takes solace in the alien beauty of exoplanets. At the same time, she discovers what feels every bit as wondrous: other people, reaching out across the space of her grief.
Among them are the Widows of Concord, a group of women offering consolation and advice, and her beloved sons, Max and Alex. Most unexpected of all, there is another kind of one-in-a-billion match with an amateur astronomer. Equally attuned to the wonders of deep space and human connection, The Smallest Lights in the Universe is its own light in the dark.
About the Author
Sara Seager is an astrophysicist and a professor of physics and planetary science at MIT. She led NASA's Probe Study team for the Starshade project. Her research is focused on the search for the first Earth-like exoplanet, and she has introduced many new ideas to the field of exoplanet characterization, including work that led to the first detection of an exoplanet atmosphere. She lives with her husband and sons in Concord, Massachusetts.
ISBN: 9780008328283
ISBN-10: 0008328285
Published: 5th August 2021
Format: Paperback
Language: English
Number of Pages: 320
Audience: General Adult
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Country of Publication: GB
Dimensions (cm): 2.1 x 12.9 x 19.8
Weight (kg): 0.23
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You Can Find This Book In
Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories BiographiesAutobiographiesScienceAstronomy, Space & TimeSolar System including The Sun & PlanetsMiscellaneous ItemsFamily & HealthCoping with / Advice about Personal, Social & Health TopicsCoping with / Advice about Death & BereavementEngineering & Technology
Other Technologies & Applied SciencesSpace ScienceScience, Technology & Medicine BiographiesScience, Technology & Medicine AutobiographiesMemoirsCoping with / Advice about Illness & Specific Health ConditionsTrue StoriesTrue Stories on Discovery, History & ScienceScience in GeneralPopular SciencePhysicsApplied PhysicsAstrophysics
This product is categorised by
- Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories BiographiesAutobiographies
- Non-FictionScienceAstronomy, Space & TimeSolar System including The Sun & Planets
- Miscellaneous Items
- Non-FictionFamily & HealthCoping with / Advice about Personal, Social & Health TopicsCoping with / Advice about Death & Bereavement
- Non-FictionEngineering & TechnologyOther Technologies & Applied SciencesSpace Science
- Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories BiographiesScience, Technology & Medicine BiographiesScience, Technology & Medicine Autobiographies
- Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories Memoirs
- Non-FictionFamily & HealthCoping with / Advice about Personal, Social & Health TopicsCoping with / Advice about Illness & Specific Health Conditions
- Non-FictionBiographies & True Stories True StoriesTrue Stories on Discovery, History & Science
- Non-FictionScienceScience in GeneralPopular Science
- Non-FictionSciencePhysicsApplied PhysicsAstrophysics
- Non-FictionScienceAstronomy, Space & Time