When I think back to my childhood, one thing I miss is all the free time I poured into reading about astronomy and physics. Other areas caught my attention as well, but it was these two subjects that captivated my imagination.
In youth, we have time to read and absorb an astounding quantity of information, and furthermore, we have the time to play with the ideas and be awed by the world around us. Most of us lose that as adults.
Back when I was a teenager, I was absorbed in astronomy and astrophysics. I suspect there are two aspects to my early interest in these areas. First, the primal beauty and immense proportions of natural objects in the sky is awe-inspiring even to the coldest of hearts. Second, the concept of understanding objects that are so far away using indirect measurement techniques continues to amaze me even today. This is despite understanding how much of it is done.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could recapture some of that magic as adults? As an adult, responsibilities are thrust upon us. Some of it is of our own making, and some of it comes from outside.
It takes a conscious effort to regain some of that sense of wonder. A gap of ten, twenty, or even thirty years is enormous to overcome. As a young man in my twenties, I built my own computers. There was a good fifteen or twenty year gap until I finally built one in my forties. Things have changed tremendously in that time, yet the sense of control over and understanding of my own system, and the sense of accomplishment in creation is still the same.
When I look back at all the advances in astronomy, planetary science, and space exploration that have occurred since my teenage years, it’s overwhelming. And I have a degree in physics, so I’m no stranger to the field.
But the sense of wonder can still be there. Rather than looking at the advances of the past thirty years as a nearly insurmountable tor, I look upon them as an orchard from which I can harvest at my leisure. That makes it fun again.
