Description

A stunning and inspiring memoir charting a life as an astronomer classicallytrained actor mother and Black woman in STEM searching for life in the universe while building a meaningful life here on Earth

As a kid Aomawa Shields was always bumping into things her neck craned up at the sky dreaming of becoming an astronaut A year into an astrophysics PhD program plagued by selfdoubt and discouraged by a white male professor who suggested that shea young Black woman who also loved fashion makeup and the artsdidnt belong she left astronomy and pursued acting professionally for a decade before a day job working for NASAs Spitzer Space Telescope drew her back to the stars She was the oldest and the only Black student in her PhD cohort This time no professor and no voice in her own head would stop her Now an astronomer and astrobiologist at the top of her field Dr Shields studies the universe outside our Solar System researching and uncovering the planets circling distant stars with just the right conditions that could support lifewhile also using her theater education to communicate the wonder and magic of the universe with those of us here on Earth But its been a journey as winding and complex as the physics she has mastered

Life on Other Planets is a journey of discovery on this world and on others a story of creating a life that makes space for joy love and wonder while being driven by one of our biggest questions Is anybody else out there It is about the possibility of living between multiple worlds and not choosingbut instead charting a new path entirely