Carleton College Faculty Member is Passionate About Astronomy

Maurice Clark, visiting assistant professor of physics at Carleton College, was out observing the night sky from his backyard when his chimney caught on fire. His wife called out to him, but Clark didn’t want to miss the rare phenomenon he was tracking, so he handed her a hose and went back to his telescope. “Astronomy has been a passion of mine ever since I can remember,” he said. The fire was put out with minimal damage, so Clark was able to continue his observations. Clark is the newest addition to Carleton College’s department of physics and astronomy, having recently moved to Minnesota from Perth in western Australia.

Although Clark’s major academic interest is in astronomy, both his undergraduate degree and Ph.D. from Australia’s Murdoch University are in physics. “Twenty years after high school I had the opportunity to go to university and astronomy was the logical path for me, but it wasn’t offered,” he said, “so I took a physics degree with the intention to be a high school teacher.” But Clark found teaching at the university level to be more to his liking, so he obtained his doctorate last year and left for the United States. Clark had his pick of several teaching positions, but found his niche at Carleton. “I just liked the friendliness here,” he said.

Since he arrived, Clark has been teaching an introduction to astronomy course and researching. “I’m doing photometry and astrometry of asteroids, particularly to work out how fast they rotate,” he said. Clark plans to publish his findings once his research is complete.

As an astronomer, Clark obviously has to do most of his work in the middle of the night. “I’m out observing as often as I can, and I’m going to be doing as much as I can,” he said, “if you get a clear night, you have to try and make the most of it.” Clark will occasionally observe until four or five in the morning.

His only major difficulty is the weather in Minnesota, which is much colder than what he is used to in Perth. “The weather just changes so quickly,” he said, “Perth has a very stable weather system…when there’s a frost, it makes the news headlines.”

Despite his love of astronomy and fondness for Carleton, Clark does not intend to stay in the U.S. indefinitely. “I’ll go back to Australia eventually, but I am looking to stay somewhere around five to 10 years,” he said, “however, I can’t stick around too long, I would miss the southern sky too much.”