Chief Astrophysicist of East Asia Observatory Delivers Remarks at Bosscha’s 100th Anniversary
By Adi Permana
Editor Vera Citra Utami
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id—The 100th anniversary of Bosscha Observatory was held on Monday, January 30, 2023. Various academic and government figures attended the event. Prof. Paul T. P. Ho, General Director of the East Asia Observatory, joined the event to deliver a speech about Indonesia's modern astronomy.
In his speech titled "How Indonesia can be More Involved in the Networks of Astronomy", Prof. Paul conveyed the importance of developing the field of astronomy. Regardless of technology, human resource is essential in its development, ensuring many talented astronomers are willing to live and work in Indonesia and even across Asia. "We should encourage the academicians to stay in Indonesia as well as other Asian countries to build our future together.”
Prof. Paul also expressed his appreciation towards the management of Bosscha Observatory for maintaining the observatory. "Bosscha is the pride of Asia. Its operation that has passed several generations is a great achievement itself."
He added one of Bosscha Observatory’s accomplishments that was not widely known: its contribution to documenting the horizon black hole phenomenon on May 12, 2022. As part of EAO (East Asian Observatories), it collected the phenomenon’s radio imagery with ITB as the national coordinator.
"Astronomy is the science field that drives science and growth," Prof. Paul Ho said.
Reporter: Favian Aldilla
Translator: Ruth Nathania
