Close to the stars

Two things that motivate Dr. Suzanna Randall in her work and spark her fascination for outer space: the desire for adventure and her inner curiosity. After all, the scientist has always loved adventure. “As a child, I wanted to be a pirate. I wanted to sail the seas, I wanted to explore the jungle, the desert and, of course, outer space. And I believe I have managed to achieve this as an adult. I really love discovering new things, and space really is the final frontier,” the astrophysicist enthuses.

For Dr. Suzanna Randall, astrophysics is more than just an adventure. She believes researching the universe is an important mission for humanity because she is convinced that “what surrounds us humans is ultimately what makes us what we are.” It is fundamentally important to Dr. Randall that people understand what surrounds them, how it all began and how they even came to Earth.

As a female astrophysicist, Dr. Suzanna Randall acts as a role model, not least for young people – girls and women in particular. And she takes this responsibility very seriously. The scientist wants future generations to be able to look up to her and know that they can accomplish anything. And that they don’t need to be scared of scientific topics.

Understanding the bigger picture and comprehending the magic of the cosmos is a challenge facing humanity. “When we talk about outer space, it really is a case of things, distances and time lines that we cannot even conceive with our brain. The universe is 13.8 billion years old. That is something we simply cannot imagine. We can’t even imagine how far away the sun is from us. Not to mention the stars or other galaxies,” says Dr. Randall.

One way we can approach all this is to view outer space in a planetarium. 100 years ago – in 1923 – the first artificial stars shone in a planetarium that ZEISS constructed for the Deutsches Museum in Munich. To this day, planetariums enable us to visualize the unimaginable. They offer the chance for people to picture outer space, the incredible distances and the idiosyncrasies of the universe in a very special way.

Both scientists and non-scientists can experience a journey into outer space at the planetarium. The astrophysicist reflects: “I have the privilege of working on the world’s largest telescopes and knowing what a really dark, clear night sky looks like, for example the view from the desert in northern Chile. Often, the general public hasn't experienced this. Not only can you experience a night sky like this in the planetarium, but you can also see the lights in the sky that are not visible to our eyes, such as infrared light, ultraviolet light, gamma rays and so on. I find this truly fascinating.”

Dr. Suzanna Randall is not taking outer space and the journey there for granted. When it comes to the flight into space, the astrophysicist respects the launch and landing most of all. And even she cannot comprehend certain aspects of outer space: “The whole concept of the universe is eerie. I still remember lying awake at night as a child and thinking: ‘How can it be possible that the universe was created from nothing? How is it possible that our Earth and everything I know will cease to exist in a few billion years?’ It simply doesn’t make sense to the human brain.”

And yet the researcher’s curiosity prevails. If she gets the opportunity to travel to outer space, she will be most excited about the change in perspective. As an astrophysicist, she looks from the Earth to the sky. A flight into space would enable her to look from the sky back to Earth – the famous overview effect.

Studio portrait Dr. Suzanna Randall: Marek & Beier