Alumni

Astronomer and University of Glasgow alumna, Wanda Diaz-Merced (PhD, 2015), has given an interview as part of a BBC Radio Four programme exploring her ground-breaking work on the ‘sonification’ of data from space.

This revolutionary process makes exploring the Universe accessible to those with visual disabilities (including Wanda herself), converting astronomical data, such as the brightness or frequency of radiation, into audio. The process is complimentary to traditional methods of analysis and has already made successful discoveries.

When Wanda lost her sight, she thought many fields of science might be closed to her, but when she heard radiation from the Sun via NASA’s Radio Jove, she realised she could make a career in astronomy.

After some time working with NASA, Wanda completed her PhD in computing at Glasgow, learning to experiment with and create tools which allowed astronomers to interpret data from space using audio.

Since completing her PhD, Wanda’s work has achieved considerable success and recognition, and her new project will take her into the search for gravitational waves, one of the highest-profile areas of astronomy.

The Radio Four programme on Wanda’s remarkable life and work also features contributions from Stephen Brewster, Professor of Human-Computer Interaction, Wanda’s PhD adviser at the University of Glasgow, and Martin Hendry, Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology, also University of Glasgow.

You can listen to the programme now on BBC Sounds.

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First published: 15 June 2021