Prof. Dr. M. Bilge Demirköz was at NUN Schools

The scientist, Prof. Dr. M. Bilge Demirköz who was awarded a prize from UNESCO was at NUN Schools as a part of “Academicians are in our lessons” activity in order to meet with our high school students. The astrophysicist, who said the goal of her life is to understand the universe, talked about the benefits of space science to the society and the projects they carried out.  

Because space sciences are one of the units that our students are focused on and they are interested in, April guest of “Academicians are in our lessons” activity has been Prof. Dr. Bilge Demirköz. She is a professor of physics at METU (Middle East Technical University) and she has been named as the recipient of International Rising Talent grants and today the astrophysicist has come together with our high school students.

She started her speech by saying that “Without fundamental sciences, applied research can not be carried out.” She said this is of paramount importance for them in all the projects they have carried out so far. “I am one of the people who believe that the universe has been created to be discovered.” said Demirköz and defined the objectives of the projects they carried out. She explained many terms such as cosmic rays, particle physics, differences between black matter and dark matter clearly so that our students could easily understand.

Reminding verses of Nazim Hikmet: “Stronium 90, they say, is raining on weed, milk, meat, on hope, freedom, on the great longing whose door we knock on. /We are in a race with ourselves, my rose. / Either we will take life to dead stars, or death will descend upon our world”, Demirköz repeated her question which she asked for a lifetime: “What are the benefits of understanding the universe to the society?” Later she explained in detail the benefits of space studies and what they mean for the society. Some of these benefits are monitoring carbon dioxide ratio in atmosphere or monitoring global warming, accessing time and place information using GPS satellites and TV broadcasting through TÜRKSAT satellites.

The astrophysicist talked about how they contributed to science by producing quadrupole magnets and monitoring the effects of our national satellites on radiation within the scope of their project. She did all of these with the help of her team which consists of 15 people. She also emphasized the importance of collaboration and team work. She finished her speech after answering questions of our students.