THE subject of a black hole can be quite a dry one but astrophysicist Dr Kevin Koay Jun Yi made it interesting to some 150 attendees who came to Tech Dome Penang in Komtar today to listen to him share his experience about ‘How to Capture an Image of a Black Hole’.
The majority of the attendees were students from Bukit Mertajam High School (36), SM Hutchings (28), St Xaviers Institution (23), SM Air Itam (11), SM Tunku Puan Habsah (10), SM Bukit Jambul (10) and Penang Free School (5) while the rest were the schools’ teachers, USM lecturers, Osram and members from the Astronomical Society of Penang.
Dr Koay, who is back in Penang on a working trip that is funded by Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics in Taipei where he works, and also the Multimedia University, will be giving another talk on the same subject (but with more details) at Dewan Kuliah ‘B’ in Universiti Sains Malaysia tomorrow (Aug 1) from 2pm to 3.30pm. It is free admission.
He explained that black holes are fascinating objects in outer space with such strong gravitational pull that even light could not escape them if it came near them.
“It’s very good to see students being interested in this subject. Some of them asked tough questions. I see that Penang is taking a very strong lead in promoting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) to children, especially through Tech Dome Penang and Penang Science Cluster. I feel proud as a Penangite,” Dr Koay, a former Penang Free School student, said.
“Astronomy is one subject that can pull in young children into STEM. When you are young, you always like to know about space, dinosaurs and things like that.
“We’ve some Malaysians in Oxford and Princeton. Those in overseas may have a bit more resources compared to locals. So, we see how we can help to co-supervise, do research together and collaborate with the locals. When we come back, we can give back to the community by giving public talks.”
One of the happiest persons at the talk was Astronomical Society of Penang president Dr Chong Hon Yew.
“Dr Kevin Koay is one of the 200 scientists around the world at the forefront of astronomy research. In 1970 when I was a student at USM, they said it was very hard to take a picture of the black hole because of all the problems. After waiting for 40 years, I finally I saw it. I’m so happy. It’s not easy to image a black hole,” Dr Chong said.
“They use the whole world as one big telescope (to capture the image). There are eight telescopes around the world used as observatories to make one big telescope.”
Dr Chong said Albert Einstein, who first predicted the existence of black holes in 1915, more than 100 years ago, was proved right with his general theory of relativity.
So, when the researchers held a series of simultaneous press conferences throughout the globe to announce the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) project’s groundbreaking result and release the first-ever picture of a black hole on 10 April 2019, Dr Chong waited agog for the news.
“That day, I was in my society’s room. When they announced it, I went to Taiwan, I went to America, I went to Chile, I went to the European Commission, online. I was so excited and happy that after waiting for so many years, I finally saw it. Many other people also waited for many years.”
Tech Dome Penang chief executive officer Dr Khong Yoon Loong said it was quite amazing that Dr Koay agreed to give the talk.
“But unfortunately for Malaysians, we don’t appreciate this kind of thing. This is world news, it came out on BBC. It was big, big news in the scientific community. We’re lucky that Dr Koay agreed to come and talk to us,” Dr Khong said.
“Of course, Tech Dome’s mission is to inspire the new generation. So, we hope they see something about his work and the exciting life of a scientist.
“You can see he lives a very interesting life, travels around the world and does many exciting things. We hope to expose kids to more of these opportunities, not just go to work in an industry. The whole world opens up, this is one small part of it …
“They know the importance of the discovery. In Malaysia, we keep doing the same thing and copy people but the forefront of research is what drives innovation and invention.
“Science is a progression, today we know this, the next day we learn more things, more discovery.
“One part of Science is the theory – you do mathematics and try to figure out or you make assumptions and guesses, then the other part is actual experimental evidence, so this is the direct evidence. It’s a great achievement.”
Also present were Pulau Tikus assemblyman Chris Lee, honorary consul of France in Penang Teoh Seng Aun, USM lecturer Dr Noor Khalidah Abdul Hamid, Tech Dome Penang education & exhibits manager Sean Lee Kuan Shern and senior marketing and communications manager Oun Sui Leng.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Alissala Thian