38 The Scrivener Volume 14 Number 3 Fall 2005

The Scrivener: Stéphanie, please tell us about your family of origin in Quebec.

Stéphanie: I was born in Montreal and grew up in Outremont, a very nice neighbourhood of Montreal, full of trees and parks. I come from a large family. I was the fourth of six children, so there was always a lot going on. Always a lot of laughter! My parents were both medical doctors—although my mother stopped working after a few kids—so they valued education very much. I knew very young that I would go to university to study science. All my brothers and sisters went to university, too. My father always read a lot, so the house was filled with hundreds and hundreds of books everywhere.

And as soon as I could read, I wanted to read them all. I went to school to College Stanislas, a private French school just a few minutes walk from where we lived.

This school had been a boys-only school that had just started accepting girls; we were only about 15 percent girls in my grade and the rest of the school was all boys. This turned out to be very good preparation for my university Physics class, which was barely 15 percent girls when I started. By that time I was really used to being surrounded by boys!

lessons to beginners. I had been playing violin since I was 8 years old and by that time, I had a Laureat es Musique. Not sure what I learned from that experience. Patience, I think!

I also worked many Summers in a café on the interesting St. Denis street in downtown Montreal. It gave me an early appreciation of the colourful urban zoo.

My first “real” job in science was as a Summer student after a year into my BSc in Physics at University of Montreal. I was delighted to get a job with an Astronomy professor. He gave me the tapes with the data I had to work on, then promptly went away on conference trips and observing runs for a month. That taught me early on in my career how to be very independent in my research and sort out things by myself!

The Scrivener: Why did you choose to become an astronomer?

Stéphanie: I am now an Astronomer at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, of the National Research Council of Canada. As far back as I can remember, I was interested in science. Even before I could read, my big brother (who has become an engineer) would tell me about the universe and space exploration.

When I was about 13, I read a couple of books, like The First Three Minutes by

Dr. Stéphanie Côté: Star-Gazing Made Easy!

I knew very young that I would go to university to

study science.

The Scrivener: What was your first job?

Stéphanie: When I was around 12 years old, I started as a papergirl, delivering newspapers to the three streets around ours. But soon I added more runs and was doing more than a dozen streets. I had to get up so early that it was still dark. I still remember fondly those long walks at dawn. I still love to take long walks in the city at night, when it’s silent and the streets belong to cats.

Then when I was about 15 and all the way until university, I was giving violin

COVER STORY

Dr. Stéphanie Côté embraces her work with passion and a

ready sense of humour.

One of her myriad talents is the ability to enlighten captivated lay audiences about activities in the heavens above!

With Val Wilson

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Volume 14 Number 3 Fall 2005 The Scrivener 39

Stephen Weinberg and Patience dans l’Azur by Quebec astronomer Hubert Reeves, which really got me hooked on astronomy. By the time I entered university, however, I was really worried about job prospects so I thought that after my BSc in Physics, I would do research on fibre optics or solar energy—something marketable.

But in my first year I took an astronomy class just for fun. I learned about dark matter for the first time. That’s what attracted me to become a research astronomer. This is what makes up 96 percent of all the universe, but you can’t see it. All the stars, gas clouds, etc., that we can observe with our telescopes only account for 4 percent of the mass.

We know there is dark matter because we can calculate it from the movements of stars and gas in galaxies, for example. This is still the biggest mystery in astronomy these days and has been for years.

After a Master’s degree in Montreal, a PhD in Australia, and several post-Doctoral years of research around the world, I got a tenure position here in Victoria at the Herzberg Institute. My official title is now Canadian Gemini Astronomer. That’s

because my duties are associated with the twin 8 metre Gemini Telescopes situated in Hawaii and in Chile, the largest telescopes in which Canada has a share.

The Institute manages all major Canadian telescopes—optical, submillimetre, and radio—for Canadian astronomers and builds top-notch instruments for these telescopes. My daily tasks are to pursue my own research and, as the Gemini Astronomer, to help Canadian Astronomers all across the country to use the Gemini Telescopes. This means providing them all the technical information they need on the telescopes and instruments, helping them prepare their program for the observing run, and advising them for their data reduction.

Part of my job is to raise public awareness about Gemini through various public outreach activities.

The Scrivener: Did you have a mentor during your career? Are you a mentor yourself?

Stéphanie: I was extremely lucky to have as thesis supervisors two wonderful mentors, Dr. Claude Carignan from Université de Montréal for my Master’s thesis and Professor Ken Freeman from Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia for my PhD thesis. I was very shy as a young student and they were great to give me confidence.

The Scrivener: Where is the Herzberg institute located?

Stéphanie: The Canadian Gemini Office is part of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics of NRC; it’s located at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory on Observatory Hill about 15 km north from downtown Victoria. The old 1.8 metre Plaskett Telescope there is still the largest one on Canadian soil.

From up here, we have lovely views of the ocean, the whole peninsula, the backdrop of the Olympic mountains, as well as garry oak forests with lots of deer. Somehow I eventually got a top-floor corner office—they are too nice to me.

This is still the biggest mystery in astronomy

these days and has been for years.

Stéphanie and Domenico rest while hiking to the hot springs near Tofino, BC.

40 The Scrivener Volume 14 Number 3 Fall 2005

The Trifid Nebula, taken with Gemini for Ingrid Braul, 13 years old, of Vancouver, winner of a contest organized by the Canadian Gemini Office

Sometimes famous astronomers can have, how should I say, special personalities. But these two were really great guys to hang around with. Mentors are important because you need to learn not only astronomy, but also how to be an astronomer.

For a long time I didn’t think I needed to be a mentor. After all I had decided to study astronomy without ever meeting a female scientist. But all my visits to school classes and tour groups have proved me wrong. It doesn’t take long to see the curiosity of the girls in the group to be awakened.

Several have told me they had always loved science but somehow never had thought before of becoming scientists. I have also supervised several Summer students who always get in touch with me when they need to make important decisions on their careers, so I guess they see me as some sort of mentor. In any case, I

can serve as an example of a survivor in the field to them, “If she can do it, I can, too.”

The Scrivener: What input and involvement do you have on the national and international scene in your field?

Stéphanie: There are only about 150 professional astronomers in Canada so it is not too difficult to “get noticed” on the national scene. Similarly, there are not that many researchers in any given specialized field of astronomical research internationally.

Both nationally and internationally, I’ve participated in a large number of committees, selecting proposals for telescope time, research Grants, and awards. Sometimes it’s a lot of work, but it can be really stimulating to have this chance to see the most exciting projects being proposed or to read the best PhD theses written in Canada for an award, for example.

Stéphanie in front of a scale model of the Gemini 8 metre telescope

In any case, I can serve as an example of a survivor in the field to them, “If

she can do it, I can, too.”

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The star-forming region RY Tau, taken with Gemini, for Gilbert St-Onge, an amateur astronomer from Dorval, Quebec, winner of a contest organized for amateur astronomers all across Canada

At the international level, I’ve had the chance to give a lot of input on the scientific and operational direction of the Gemini Telescopes. The decisions are made through various committees with representatives from all the partner countries with a share in the telescopes—seven in total—the US and UK being the main partners. As the Canadian representative, I’ve participated in all the decisions on the major future scientific directions of the telescopes for the next decade, for example, in the selection of the future multi-million-dollar instruments to be built.

The Scrivener: What do you like best about your work?

Stéphanie: Doing research is an extremely rewarding experience. Your work becomes an intense and passionate creative pursuit and the moments of successful discoveries are simply thrilling. And research in astronomy is especially rewarding because, in many other fields, the research groups are so huge that you would rarely be able to make the decisions.

In astronomy you think of an idea, apply to get telescope time, then work on the data and write the paper all on your own if you wish—most of the time in a small team where you can decide on the directions to explore and to shape the project as you wish. Also astronomy—with all the new telescopes and instruments that have come up and are coming up soon—is a field really going through exciting times now.

The Scrivener: What is your greatest career achievement so far?

Stéphanie: My career achievements? I was the first woman to be hired as a staff astronomer at the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics since its creation more than 30 years ago—I always say that one first, because nobody claps in the room if I tell about my greatest research achievements instead.

There are now at least 25 percent women in the Physics and Astronomy undergraduate programs in Canadian universities, so things are changing. Hopefully in the future, there’ll be many

more women astronomers. Perhaps the field will see the same amazing transformation that happened to Notaries Public in BC, who were male-dominated 20 years ago and whose membership is now around 60 percent women.

two nearest groups of galaxies, using a combination of optical and radio observations. Indeed I discovered about three dozen dwarf galaxies in there.

Then I studied the dark matter in these dwarf galaxies. It turned out that dwarf galaxies have much more dark matter than normal galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are like little espresso cups of dark matter, while our galaxy would be more like a cappuccino, with a 50-50 mix of luminous and dark matter.

The Scrivener: How do you feel you are making a difference now? What would you like to achieve in your profession in the future?

Stéphanie: When serving on Grant committees, for example, I see myself as more objective in my decisions, not only as a minority, but also because I am of the new generation of astronomers who are comfortable at many wavelengths. I’ve worked not only in optical but also infrared, submillimetre, radio, ultraviolet, etc.

My biggest research breakthrough so far has been the discovery of several new dwarf galaxies. Our Milky Way Galaxy is part of a group of over 30 galaxies called the Local Group. Most of these galaxies are dwarf galaxies, typically 10 times smaller than the Milky Way.

I guessed that it was probably typical of other groups of galaxies to have lots of dwarf galaxies, so I searched in the

My biggest research breakthrough so far

has been the discovery of several new dwarf

galaxies.

42 The Scrivener Volume 14 Number 3 Fall 2005

In the old days, someone was purely an optical astronomer or just a radio astronomer. I look at the science and less at the people or techniques to achieve the goals.

As the Canadian Gemini Astronomer, I am the one in charge of communicating the complexities of the telescopes and instruments to Canadian astronomers. Knowing the telescopes’ capabilities, I advise them on how best to achieve their science goals. The astronomers most of the time will not be going themselves to the telescopes in Hawaii or Chile.

Instead their data are taken into what we call “queue-observing” mode, where a Gemini staff astronomer will decide the optimal program to observe, after checking the weather conditions of the night. This is more efficient, because some programs need extra-good image quality—less distortion through the atmosphere—and others need cloudless skies. In the past, you relied on luck when you showed up at the telescope.

The programs must be described in every detail in a way that can be ingested by the telescope. That’s where I come in. I make sure the astronomers’ vision of what they want to achieve is translated in clear commands to the telescope, then that information is sent to Hawaii and Chile. It is the first time that we are operating optical telescopes in this way in Canada.

I am the interface between the researchers and their experiment. You have to be able to communicate complex notions and potentially confusing material to astronomers and students and be able to put yourself into their head to understand clearly what they are trying to do. Otherwise this new mode of operating would not work.

I guess the goal of every researcher is to discover something with important implications in your field that is entirely new and unexpected or perhaps that contradicts an existing theory—something that would have a major impact in the field. But I am quite happy to also humbly bring small pieces to the puzzle that will eventually build up to something new—as long as I feel it has been useful in the big picture.

The Scrivener: Are you currently involved in community service?

Stéphanie: I’m afraid that like many researchers, my time outside work is very limited, so I haven’t been very active in community services for years. But I’ve recently been approached by the local chapter of Zonta and I’m thinking about joining. This is a worldwide organization working to advance the legal, political, economic, educational, health, and professional status of women.

While I lived in Australia during my PhD studies, I was part of a bushfire volunteer team. Mount Stromlo Observatory is in the outback in the outskirts of Canberra, surrounded by gum forests, so we needed to have our own emergency team; we had our own fire truck. We had full training from firefighters, including how to rescue people from houses on fire.

I participated in several control burns all around New South Wales. We even won a state-wide bushfire team competition for being the “best prepared team.” We also won the “best presented team” award and I suspect it had to do with the fact that we were the only team with a woman—although I doubt I looked that sexy in the yellow overalls, wearing the oxygen mask. Sadly Mount Stromlo Observatory did burn out a few years ago.

At a press conference for a contest Stéphanie organized for a Canadian amateur astronomer to win 1 hour of Gemini time: Gilbert St-Onge (at left) with his winning image of RY Tau, Stéphanie, and famous Canadian Astronomer René Racine of Montreal

The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, which houses the Plaskett Telescope

The Plaskett Telescope

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The Scrivener: What are your special interests and hobbies? Do you have pets?

Stéphanie: I love tango dancing and my boyfriend Domenico enjoys ballroom dancing, too, so we go dancing every week. We don’t like being too formal about it and most of the time we make up our own creative steps; we’re mostly fooling around and having fun. We’re both “city slickers”—he’s also from Montreal—so we are always checking out movies, plays, jazz clubs, opera, new restaurants—whatever is happening in town.

We also like hiking and we do long walks along the beaches or waterfront in or around Victoria—it sounds cliché but we really do this, several times a week—and hand-in-hand, of course. I read a lot, too, my pet interest being archaeology and early human evolution, but my readings are rather eclectic. I read half-a-dozen books at the same time, from French novels to old Greek philosophy, with some social critic essays in between.

For years I didn’t have pets at home because I was travelling so much for meetings, conferences, or observing runs. Almost every month I had a trip somewhere. But when Domenico moved in with me, he brought his two budgies. They are happily chirping away the whole day long, just like us.

The Scrivener: What is most important to you in life?

Stéphanie: Hmmm. I guess that’s the part where we’re supposed to say “my family”? I was so busy with my work and having fun that I managed to escape getting married and having children. I am happy to report I am now successfully recovering from workaholism and I love to spend quality time with my boyfriend.

I am very much a believer of the Here and Now. The most important thing for me is to be happy here and now, try as much as possible to make happy the people around me that I love, and thank life every day for all I’ve been lucky to enjoy so far. ▲