Dr Vithal Tilvi, who was one of the three scientists in the team which discovered the furthest galaxy in the universe a couple of years ago has returned to his roots in Marcela, Goa after spending nearly 15 years in the United States of America. ALIYA ABREU caught up with him on his achievements, research and life in general in an exclusive interview.
Can you tell us about your early life, growing up in Marcel?
The advantage of growing up in a village, as opposed to say, growing up in Panjim, is that there was no light pollution. In primary school, we didn’t have electricity, so if you looked up at the sky, you could see the heart of the Andromeda Galaxy (our neighbouring galaxy). Now, it is very difficult to see this in Goa because our eyes have adapted to electricity and fainter objects are difficult to see. Growing up in a village, you develop a lot of patience, because you don’t have the facilities. That patience is really essential for research, though I didn’t realise it at the time. Experiments can take a really really long time.
Did you want to be an astronomer when you were young?
No, not at all. I was not good in studies. The only advantage I had was, I had no pressure from my parents to become either an engineer or a doctor. My parents probably thought graduating would be good enough.
I studied in Sharada English HS in Marcel, and later PES College in Farmagudi. My Bachelors is in Physics, and Masters in Electronics. If I wanted to do research in Astronomy in India, it would have been difficult because I didn’t have an Astronomy background. Would have to change my subject and answer more exams, so when I got the offer from the US, I took it.
What is the difference in the perspective of people towards Astronomy in India and US?
An average American will have a different perspective. The more orthodox Americans still think that the Earth is only 5,000 years old. They live with the conflict : they believe this, but still study Astronomy, from which we know the universe is over 13 billion years old.
In India, people are flexible in their beliefs, because of our culture. If you tell Indians to add another God to their calendar, they will not hesitate. Strong believers will also do very good Science and not find it conflicting. No much difference otherwise.
Has your research changed your view of God and religion?
Yes. The first thing that changed is my perspective of our position in the universe. The Earth seems big for us, until you go outside the Earth. If you look at the Earth from another planet, it is small. If you compare the Earth with the Sun, it looks really small. If you go outside the solar system, and talk about Earth in relation to the galaxy, it can’t even be seen. So if you look at it from that perspective, essentially, we are negligible. If we die tomorrow, it won’t make a difference to the Universe. Even if the entire solar system vanishes, nothing will change. Despite being so small, we sometimes think so highly of ourselves.
The Indian God is completely different from the European God. But one starts thinking about not who is God, but what is God. You also start thinking about whether God is really needed. Once you define what is God, you can test your observations, from your research. But to each individual, the answer will be different, depending on what he believes. My concept has changed. Religion is essentially a group of people coming together with some common themes.
Do you find Astronomy therapeutic? Could it help people ease mental stress?
With research in Astronomy, when you think of the scale of the Universe, you realise that everything else shouldn’t affect our lives, they are very very small things. Every day, the sun rises in the morning, and moves around the Milky Way Galaxy, and the Galaxy itself moves around the center of another group of galaxies. That group will also move around the center of another part of the universe. Everything has to work perfectly for our existence. But we think we are great and fight each other. What would happen if one day, the sun didn’t rise in the morning? Once you get that perspective, everything else is negligible.
Was your discovery a eureka moment for you? How did you feel?
It takes a year and a half of analysis to actually confirm the discovery. Although we knew it tentatively, we had to get it confirmed. We had already identified which were the probable galaxies which were the furthest, but in Science, when you find something new, you first doubt it. The excitement kicks in after the discovery. Now, we can actually study the beginning of the universe.
In the project I am currently leading, our team has discovered the black hole in that galaxy. We’re trying to find out what chemicals were present in the black hole itself. Because of the black hole, a lot of things will change in the Galaxy itself. It becomes more interesting now. It’s exciting to study how the universe was when it was really really young.
Is it easier for you to get time on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) now that you made the discovery?
No, it’s not. Every time you send your proposal, everyone has equal chances. They give everyone a fair chance. If you have a good Science problem, it will be selected. But you won’t be chosen because of your past success.
The Space Telescope Science Institute, to whom NASA has given the contract, manages the selection process for NASA. There is a selection committee which studies proposals and which are blind reviewed. Even if you’ve discovered a planet, you will not be given preference to use the telescope.
Is it possible to find galaxies even further than this? A galaxy that is 13.7 billion light years away?
There is a limit beyond which you cannot go. After the Universe was formed 13.7 billion years ago, we think that there were the dark ages, where there was nothing. It took some time for stars and galaxies to form. The Universe is opaque. There is a lot of hydrogen gas through which light cannot penetrate. Even if there are galaxies, because of the hydrogen fog, we will not be able to see it with the existing technology. So if there were galaxies 13.5 billion light years away, we would not be able to see them, unless technology advances and the hydrogen fog is penetrated.
You spoke to the engineering students about colonising Mars. Will it be a solution to the rapid climate change faced on Earth?
That’s not the reason we’re looking at colonising Mars. Our population density has reached such a level that it will not be sustainable. Also, an asteroid could, in the future, enter the Earth’s atmosphere, and possibly wipe out entire countries. It has happened in the past could happen again.
Since we’ve survived for so many million years, it would be a tragedy if we get wiped out in a short time. That’s one reason why we’re exploring Mars. Human nature is to explore beyond what we already know. If not Mars, we would explore something else.
It’s like how scientists are exploring the bottom of the ocean. It comes from our genes.
