Dr Nia Imara is an astrophysicist and visual artist, known for being the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in astrophysics from UC Berkeley. She teaches astronomy and incorporates visual art, music, and literature into her curriculum. Imara emphasizes creativity in science education, encouraging students to engage in artistic activities to enhance their learning experience. Her new book, ‘Painting the Cosmos’, which explores the relationship between art and science throughout history, was launched on February 25, 2025. To mark the release of her new book, Imara shared insights and behind-the-scenes stories through an exclusive interaction with Dr Ismail Suhail Penukonda of Texas, offering a glimpse into her latest literary work. Here are the excerpts:
- My perspective as an artist profoundly affects how I view the world, influencing everything I do, including my scientific pursuits. I see science as a quest for knowledge from the outside in, while art is an exploration from the inside out. Storytelling serves as a bridge between these two seemingly distinct realms.
- Currently, my research delves into the mysteries surrounding the birth and evolution of stellar nurseries. These nurseries are vast and intricate structures composed of gas and dust, where stars are born. They possess a beautiful, complex structure that is intimately tied to the formation of stars, yet the process by which this structure emerges and evolves remains an enigma.
- Stellar nurseries are incredibly massive, containing tens of thousands of solar masses worth of gas and dust, and stretching across tens or even hundreds of light-years. A prime example is the Orion nebula, located near the belt of the constellation Orion, which is one of the closest stellar nurseries to us. The Orion nurseries are among the largest and most massive known, and they represent the closest region of massive star formation.
- Stars are born within these nurseries when vast regions of interstellar gas and dust converge over millions of years. Eventually, some regions within these clouds undergo gravitational collapse, becoming so dense that nuclear fusion ignites, marking the birth of a star.
- Visualizing these stellar nurseries is a challenge, as astronomical images are inherently flat, collapsing three-dimensional structures onto a two-dimensional plane. To overcome this, I’ve turned to 3D printing as a means of visualizing these complex structures. Each 3D print represents a stellar nursery, with white material depicting dense gas and filaments where stars will form, and clear material representing the voids of interstellar space.
- These 3D models, about the size of a softball and composed of thousands of layers, tap into the human brain’s ability to detect patterns, offering a new way of seeing and understanding stellar nurseries.
- Dust, often a nuisance to astronomers, plays a crucial role in my research. Stellar nurseries are dusty environments, and we can leverage our knowledge of dust to understand the structure of molecular clouds. These clouds are threaded by long, dense filaments and compact knots of gas called cores, which are the final stage before star formation.
- To further investigate these processes, my collaborators and I have conducted numerous computer simulations, each representing different physical extremes. By manipulating factors like gravity and magnetic fields, we aim to understand how these forces shape the environment of stellar nurseries and ultimately lead to the formation of stars.
- The connection between humanity and the cosmos is profound; we are literally made from the stars. This shared origin implies a shared destiny and a responsibility towards one another. For me, the link between art and science lies in my fascination with color and light. I draw inspiration from figures like Benjamin Banneker and George Washington Carver, who were not only brilliant scientists but also artists. Their contributions to science and art, and their commitment to serving others, have transformed our understanding of what it means to be a scientist.
-Rashmi Kumari
