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What Are Astronomers Doing?
Peter Yoachim
"Astronomy was More Fun" 
Peter Yoachim at the Sedlec Ossuary in the Czech Republic, a church decorated entirely in bones from the plague years.
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Peter Yoachim learned in college that his two loves, math and astronomy, would never work together. “Astronomy has ruined my math skills,” Peter said. “I can’t do a formal proof to save my life anymore. In astronomy, as long as you have the right order of magnitude, it’s right. Not so in math. Finally, I had to choose between the two, and I chose astronomy, because to me it was more fun.”
Peter’s love of astronomy runs in the family; his grandfather was a space shuttle engineer. Growing up in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, a town which, he says “is really boring if you can’t drive,” Peter enjoyed playing with space toys as a child. He also liked to play with Groo, a red and black box turtle he’s had since the second grade and is still alive up in Washington.
Peter loves to travel. So far, he’s enjoyed visiting Las Vegas and Vancouver, close to home, and in Europe, Switzerland, Prague, Rome, and Copenhagen. He says he was also on the subway in London the day it was bombed. “We didn’t realize what was happening until later. They just evacuated us all, and it was a two-mile hike back to the hotel.”
Peter says his favorite place to visit so far has been Kutna Hora, in the Czech Republic, which is the site of a church, the Sedlec Ossuary, which is completely decorated in human bones from the ages of the plagues. “That was just out of this world,” Peter said. “There is nothing like that anywhere else in the world.” Peter also loves to go downhill skiing on vacation. “You can’t do much of that in Austin,” Peter said. “I’ve been here a year, and it’s hot!”
One bad thing about modern technology, Peter said, is that it sometimes keeps you from traveling. “I have ‘observed’ using telescopes in Chile and Hawaii, but because of remote observing, I didn’t actually go there. I just logged into my computer in my office in the middle of the night. It’s definitely more convenient, but nowhere near as fun.”
Peter Yoachim
Post-doctoral researcher, University of Texas at Austin
Ph.D., Astronomy, University of Washington
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