1. Africa and Astronomy Charles H. McGruder III Western Kentucky University Chair of the International Committee of the National Society of Black Physicists

2. Outline Background Astronomers and Telescopes in Africa NASSP – National Astrophysics and Space Science Program African Telescope African Astronomical Society (AfAS) South Africa: SAAO, Sutherland and SALT Africa and SKA

3. African Population Second most-populous continent after Asia. Rapid Population Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa Current: 800 million 2050: 1.7 billion End of Century: 3 billion Fasting Growing area in Population in 21 st Century

4. African Statistics Religion (2050) As many Muslims as in Asia more than ½ of the world’s Christians Second-largest continent 3 x USA

5. Astronomers South Africa: 60 Nigeria: 20-25 Rest of Africa: 20 Total: 100

6. Telescopes 16 research grade optical telescopes South Africa: 11, Namibia: 3: Egypt: 1, Burkina Faso: 1 Two Radio Telescopes: Nigeria and South Africa

7. How does one increase the number of African astronomers? South African answer Create a central well- funded pipeline to the PhD. National Astrophysics and Space Science Program (NASSP)

8. NASSP Purpose: to “Create an African network of astronomers bonded by the common experience of schooling and interlinked both professionally & personally”.

9. NASSP Housed at the University of Cape Town (UCT) UCT,146 top university in world, #1 in Africa Panafrican: 43% of students non-South African Professors come from 12 SA institutions 2003-2009: 94 honors, 60% Master’s/PhD

10. Bottleneck Not enough PhD supervisors

11. Examples NASSP: 60% go on to Master’s/PhD Ethiopia: 22 Master’s in Astrophysics no supervisors in observational astronomy Kenya: 20 students in first year astronomy

12. Easing the Bottleneck Non-African supervisors No brain drain Can work? Workshop in January 2011 at AAU.

13. Easing the Bottleneck How can we attract supervisors? Providing a first rate African Telescope Working with Swedes for money

14. African Telescope Train the next generation of African astronomers Contribution to modern astronomy. Robotic telescope of 2-3 meters in diameter, photometric and spectroscopic

15. African Telescope Sensitive to the near infrared We need to be high and dry Africa has mountains ranges with high mountains

16. High Mountains of Africa Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), Tanzania Kenya (5,199 m), Kenya Stanley (5,119 m), Congo-Uganda Speke (4,890 m), Congo-Uganda Baker (4,844 m), Congo-Uganda Emin (4,798 m), Congo-Uganda Gessi (4,715 m), Congo-Uganda Luigi di Savoia (4,627 m), Congo-Uganda Mount Meru (4,566 m), Tanzania Ras Dejen (4,533 m), Ethiopia Mount Karisimbi (4,507 m), Rwanda-Congo

17. African Telescope Ethiopia Namibia

19. Ethiopian Statistics Population: 75,000,000 Capital: Addis Ababa, population 2.7 million Religion: –50% Muslim, –50% Christian Landmass: Somewhat larger than Alaska, Texas and California combined

20. Education in Ethiopia Language: Amharic 1- 6 grades: Amharic English: 1 st or kindergarden (cities) 7th & university: English Literacy: 40% Primary school: 45%

21. Universities in Ethiopia Current Total: 22 New Total: 32 in 2 years Golden Opportunity: Critical Need for PhDs to man universities

22. Astronomers in Ethiopia One PhD astrophysicist, Legesse Wetro Kebede. In USA for 9 years Research Area: Pulsars (Theory) Produced 22 Masters in astrophysics in 15 years Current: 4 PhD students and 3 Masters students

23. Direction of Ethiopian Astronomy Observational Astronomy Started site observations in November 2009 David Buckley from SAAO set up DIMM Need DIMMs for Ethiopia. Five potential sites

24. Why African Telescope in Ethiopia Presumably high photometric quality Strong backing of Addis Ababa University Strong Ethiopian government support Long tradition of Sweden supporting Ethiopia

25. Ethiopian Government Support Ato Tefera, Minister of Capacity Building Under him: Ministry of Education, which funds Ethiopian universities Is an amateur astronomer With Kebede founded Ethiopian Space Society

26. Ethiopia as an astronomical site Ethiopian highlands cover about 2/3 of Ethiopia, surrounded by desert. Ras Dashen is highest peak at 4,620 m or 15,158 feet (13N,38E). Proposed site near Lalibela (12N, 39E). Altitude: 3,600 m

28. Namibian Statistics Population: 2.1 million Namibia has the second- lowest population density, after Mongolia 2.5/square kilometer Area=Texas +Louisiana ½ population earns less than $1.25/day

30. Gamsberg Data Altitude 2347 m Area 2.3 sq km Seeing 1” 220 cloudless nights Longitude: 16.23 East Latitude: 23.34 South 120 km southwest of Windhoek

31. Photometric Nights

32. Seeing

36. African Astronomical Society (AfAS) Needed to steer the build- up of astronomy in Africa. Required because funding is coming through African Union (AU). So Panafrican organization needed.

37. AfAS Vision Statement To grow the astronomical profession in Africa to a highly recognized international level.

38. AfAS Vision Statement to organize and network the community of African research astronomers, to advocate for more resources for astronomy research, to grow the number of African astronomers doing research at Africa-based telescopes, and to better bridge the African astronomical community to the global astronomical research community.

39. South Africa

40. Southern African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) #1 research facility in Africa. Located since 1820 in Cape Town Budget $4.5 M 105 staff, 22 PhDs, 36 engineers and technical personnel

41. Sutherland Altitude: 1800 m Seeing: 0.9” Very dark site 75% of nights usable Roughly 50% of the nights are photometric

42. Telescopes at Sutherland SALT Five Robotic Telescopes ACT, BISON, KELT- South, MONET, YSTAR Five non-robotic telescopes 1.9 m, 1.0 m, 0.75 m, 0.5 m, IRSF International: Germany, Japan, Korea, UK, USA

43. SALT

44. Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) Largest optical telescope in the southern hemisphere Hexagonal mirror array of 11 meters Low cost –$22 M:Construction Costs – $9 M: First generation instruments – $14M: First 10 years

45. SALT Timeline Construction phase completed in Nov. 2005 Commission phase: end in mid-2010 Commissioning science: 11 papers, several in preparation Two major technical hurdles: –Image quality (diagnosed and about to be solved) –Spectrograph throughput (solved)

46. What is SKA? 1.Largest Radio Telescope in World 2.3,000 Dishes (each 12- 15 m in diameter) 3.SKA-Square Kilometer Array 4.Total Area of all 3,000 dishes is a square kilometer 5.Physical Extent: over 3,000 km

47. Africa and Australia Africa and Australia vying Major international investment, $2.3 billion in construction costs 1/3 from USA, 1/3 from Europe and 1/3 from other countries in SKA consortium The SKA will be one of the largest scientific research facilities in the entire world. Thus Africa or Australia will be number one in radio astronomy on planet earth for many decades.

48. Where Should SKA Go? It should be decided by the result of physical measurements. Initial investigation no significant difference between Africa or Australia. more rigorous evaluation underway site decision in 2012

49. Why Should Africa Host SKA? Economic Growth Scientific and Technological Growth

50. High Speed Internet Without Africa

51. How can SKA lead to Economic Growth? Broadband internet connectivity. From Study conducted by World Bank - "for every 10% increase in bandwidth for connectivity for developing countries, you get a 1.3% growth in GDP of the host country“

52. Economic Growth? The SKA will drive the development of internet connectivity in both rural and developed areas, thus leading to economic growth. What is the connection between SKA and rural areas? Rural areas to avoid radio interference

53. How will SKA lead to Growth in Science and Technolgy? Best scientists and engineers in the world to work in Africa. opportunities for African scientists & engineers cutting edge instrumentation and the most renowned research institutions in the world

54. Growth in Science and Technology SKA opportunity for the development of very high level skills and expertise in Africa. This will allow Africa (for the first time since ancient times) to be a significant contributor to the global knowledge economy.

55. Dishes in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zambia, Ghana and Kenya

56. First Signs of Growth 80 graduate students 11 postdoctoral fellows 40 undergraduate students 38 students from other African countries Kenya is introducing astronomy at the University of Nairobi this October.

57. First Signs of Growth II South Africa is building the Karoo Array Telescope (MeerKAT) consisting of 80 dishes which is a precursor instrument for the SKA. Government from Mauritius is making funds available to assist in the installation and testing of a MeerKAT type telescope.

58. What is SKA all about for Africa? Encouraging Africa’s youth to go on a do great things in science and engineering - a youth, which will help propel the continent out of poverty.

59. What is SKA all about for Scientists? How and when did the first stars and galaxies form in the universe? What is the mysterious dark energy and dark matter that fill the universe? How did the universe, and the galaxies in it, evolve? Was Einstein always right about Gravity? Where did the magnetic fields in the universe come from? Is there life of any sort anywhere else in the universe, and is it intelligent (like us?)

60. Another Fundamental Question of Science Were did human beings originate? Answered in 2009 in a paper in “Science” entitled: “The Genetic Structure and History of Africans and African Americans”. “This analysis indicates that modern human migration originated in southwestern Africa, at 12.5°E and 17.5°S, near the coastal border of Namibia and Angola”.

64. Four Quarters by T.S. Elliot "Little Gidding" (the last of his Four Quartets ). “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time”.