01 Dr.Wilkins
enjoysa mug
oftea,Earl
Grey,veryhot.
02 TheTNG
episodes
“Conspiracy”...
03 ...and“The
BestofBoth
Worlds,”two
ofStephen
Wilkins’
favorites.THE HOLODECKA
s theSeniorLecturerin Astronomy
at theUniversityofSussexinthe
UK,Dr.StephenWilkinsis excited
overenteringwhathecalls“thegolden
age”ofobservationalastronomy,as
scientistspreparetoseefurtherand
clearerintotheuniversethanever
before.Specifically,withtheJames
WebbSpaceTelescope,whichwillbe
biggerthanthefamousHubbleSpace
Telescope,“Therebyprovidingbetter
sensitivityandresolution,”saysDr.
Wilkins.“Itwillalsooperateexclusively
intheinfraredandallowustopeer
throughdustcloudsandseebackto the
formationof thefirststarsandgalaxies.”
Dr.Wilkinshasa lotmoreto
sayonthesubject,butwhenasked
howStarTrekplayeda roleingetting
himinterestedinspace,hereplies,“I
reallygrewupwithStarTrek:The Next
GenerationandStarTrek:DeepSpace
Nine. I wassixorsevenwhenI began
towatchTNG.Comparedtotheother
programsI wasallowedtowatch,it
wascompletelydifferent.Myfamilyremains my favorite character. He was
more likely to think or negotiate his
way out of problems instead of resorting
to force. Th ere is also the fact that, like
Patrick Stewart, I am a Yorkshireman.
Despite not really containing many
discovery/exploration elements, two of
my favorite episodes are ‘Conspiracy’
and ‘Th e Best of Both Worlds.’”
Surprisingly, at that time, the fi rst
Star Trek was something of a mystery to
him. “I didn’t watch the original until
much later, thanks to a lack of cable,
and by then my impression of it was
coloredbyitsspecialeffects.”However,
heembracedDS9whenit premieredin
1993.“I reallyenjoyedit,particularly
becauseI wasolderandI couldfollow
themorearc-drivenstoryformat.”
The oftenunder-appreciatedStarTrek:
Enterpriseis alsopraisedbyWilkins.
“I feltit recapturedsomeof the
explorationanddiscoverythemes,more
sothanDS9/Voyager/Discovery. It’salso
closetomyheartas it is theseriesmy
eight-year-oldsonenjoysthemost.”
Nowinvolvedinreal-lifespace
explorationresearch,Wilkinsthinks
weareonthebrinkofa newfrontier
indiscovery.“We’veidentifiedabout
4,000planetsorbitingotherstars,
showingthatplanetsareubiquitousin
theuniverse.Obviouslythefactthere
is plentyof‘realestate’outthereis
positiveforthepossibilityoflife.But
it stillmaybethatlifeis incredibly
rare,perhapsrequiringa veryspecific
setofcircumstances.”
Tohelpfindthatanswer,a
numberofadvancedrevolutionary
telescopesandexploratoryspacecraft
arepoisedtosearchouterspace.
“The JamesWebbSpaceTelescope
willprobetheatmosphereofplanets
aroundotherstars,allowingusto
findoutwhetherthoseatmospheres
containthingslikewater,carbon
dioxide,methane,andeven
oxygen,”explainsWilkins.Finding
anEarth-likeplanet,withoxygen
initsatmosphere,“wouldbea
groundbreakingdiscovery.”
However,thelaunchoftheWebb
telescopehasbeendelayedseveral
times.“That is theresultofadditional
testing,whichraisesissuesthatneedto
besolved.UnlikeHubble,whichis in
lowEarthorbitandcouldbeserviced
byastronauts,Webbwillorbitalmost
fivetimesfartherawaythantheMoon.
Forthisreason,weneedtogetit right
thefirsttime.”andpeersreallydidn’thaveaninterest
inscience,andotherthanthelocal
library,therewasn’tmuchopportunity
toengageinthesubject.StarTrek
providedmyfirstsparkofinterestin
scienceandalmostcertainlyshaped
mypoliticalviewsas well.”
The NextGenerationespecially
appealedto him.“Bearingin mindI was
bornin theearly1980s,it wasthefirst
StarTrekI engagedin.It focusedmore
ondiscoveryandexploration– obviously
importantelementsof mycareer.Picard“Star Trek provided my
first interest in science
and almost certainly
shaped my political
views as well.”
DR. STEPHEN
WILKINS0203