The dark matter occupying the mind of SKA’s new head
ROB Adam, the new head of the Square Kilometre Array, has two things on his mind: the gargantuan effort it will take to explore the dark matter of the universe, and where to put the pictures of his family in his new office.
This week he started working as director designate of the SKA, the world’s biggest astronomy project, taking over from Bernie Fanaroff, who will mentor him until December.
Heading up a project that will result in the world’s biggest telescope capturing data from the skies requires stamina, precision and a cool head.
But Adam, who spent eight years as a political prisoner in Pretoria Central Prison, is no stranger to a challenge.
While behind bars, he studied theoretical physics, obtaining a BSc (Hons) and an MSc — both with distinction.
After his release, he completed a PhD in theoretical nuclear physics and later became a director-general in the Department of Science and Technology.
During his time with the department, from 1999 to 2006, he was close to the SKA project, including the bidding process. More recently, he chaired the SKA South Africa steering committee.
He was also CEO of the Nuclear Energy Corporation of South Africa and group executive: nuclear at the Aveng Group.
Of his new job, he said: “I won’t deny that it’s a challenge, or else it would not be interesting.”
The project would put Africa on the map, and his task, Adam said, was to be a “bridge” — “Interpreting science and technology to the politicians and politicians to the scientists and technologists.”
He begins on a high note: by the end of next week, four of the antennae of the MeerKAT — a precursor to the SKA — will be up.
“We are proving our mettle if we get MeerKAT right in the allocated time,” said Adam.
“And, at the moment, we are in fact ahead of specifications.”
Fanaroff shares the same vision as his successor.
“I expect that in the next decade, scientists from Africa will win Nobel prizes using telescopes that have been built in Africa,” he said.
“We have reversed the brain drain in astronomy and are laying the foundations to be world leaders, not just in astronomy, but in science in general.”
Fanaroff said that just because South Africa is at the tip of the continent, we need not “limit ourselves to the applied sciences only in things like food and water security”.
The major spin-off of the array would be “big data”, Fanaroff said.
“This is going to be a new global industry and we don’t have to play catch-up, because all countries are still short of skills as it is such a new industry.”
Fanaroff said signs of “big data’s” growing importance were that IBM is to open a “big data” research lab in Johannesburg, and the recent launch of the Centre for Broadband Communication at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth.
After Fanaroff officially steps down as director, he will remain involved with strategic aspects of the SKA, as well as the “big data” flowing from the project.
STARS: Bernie Fanaroff, outgoing SKA South Africa director, left, and his successor, Rob Adam, at the National Gallery in Cape Town
In the next decade, scientists from Africa will win Nobel prizes