Ray Lucas
Have you ever felt that you were "called"
to work in a particular field of endeavor? In my
case, I literally was...
Astronomy was my first love among the sciences
as a child while growing up on our family farm near
Hillsborough, North Carolina, and while attending
school there at Cameron Park Elementary, Orange
Junior High School, and finally Orange High School.
I can specifically remember the feeling and the
real change of perspective I got while less than
10, lying on my back on a hillside on our farm and
looking up at the band of the Milky Way, realizing
that I was looking at the disk of the galaxy and
that intergalactic space was to either side of it.
And I can also remember being fascinated by visits
to the local planetarium and times spent reading
everything I could get my hands on related to astronomy
and the study of the universe. But I also loved
many other things as well, and so many things that,
without ever really completely forgetting about
astronomy, I got distracted somewhat by many of
these other things for some years, during which
I had many interesting detours... And then, after
rediscovering my passion for astronomy very late
in my undergraduate career at UNC-Chapel Hill, and
working at it for some years without expectation
or even thought of gainful employment in it, it
found me again as well when Professor Morris Davis,
now Professor Emeritus
at UNC, unbeknownst to me, and somewhat to my amazement,
gave my name to someone at STScI. Continuing this
life-changing sequence of events, and about 24-36
hours after the requisite visit and interviews at
STScI, in the Spring of 1985, I was asked to come
and work here - practically plucked from the halls
of UNC-Chapel Hill and deposited here to work in
the part of STScI, the Guide Star Catalog and all-sky
digital image archive project under the late Barry
Lasker, which was undoubtedly one of the best places
for eventually becoming involved in what interested
me the most - research on peculiar or interacting
and merging galaxies. And I also got to do further
coursework at Johns Hopkins with Colin Norman, Allan
Sandage, George Miley, and Alex Szalay. I could
only wish that I was as good a student as they deserved.
And I probably could not have consciously planned
such a convoluted path to one of my childhood dreams,
had I tried!
Now, all these years later, I've been very fortunate
to meet, study with, and work with many very good
people - good people in every sense of the word
- and I must say a heart-felt "thank you"
to all who have helped me and been partners, co-workers,
and fellow travelers on this journey through all
the ups and downs (and ups, again!) of a project
like HST. I've been privileged to work on many interesting
projects with HST and other telescopes, and to participate
in adventures like the Hubble Deep Fields and GOODS.
Because of my name being associated with some web
sites on astronomy here at STScI, I get letters
from all over the world, sometimes with requests
for advice on how to get into astronomy. I'm sure
this is true of others, too. Although I can't recommend
the specific somewhat unorthodox path that has brought
me to where I am now as a way for someone to get
into astronomy, especially since there are never
so many jobs in astronomy as there are in many other
fields, what I can first say to younger people or
anyone for that matter, is that there is always
more to learn, and that I am always aware of and
glad of that. And the next thing I can say is that,
especially in these times, if you want to be of
benefit to humankind, no matter what the field of
study, as long as you work to promote understanding
and love rather than hate, if you nurture lots of
interests and dreams for using your talents and
abilities in multiple areas, and pay attention to
developments in them, taking or even helping create
any opportunities that present themselves for involvement,
even as a volunteer, doing small or less pleasant
jobs and ennobling them by your effort, and if you
are not so afraid of failure to try something, nor
allow yourself to become bitter even if you fail,
if you can do something even just for the love of
it, then you can at least be glad you spent your
time doing something you loved. (And your time really
is more valuable than money, even though most of
us, myself included, have to also be concerned with
the reality of making a living.) So, if you can
do all this, then you never know when you may be
unexpectedly given the chance to live some of those
childhood dreams!
More?
A longer though still somewhat incomplete version...
Finally,
here is a bit more about hobbies, etc.
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