By Andra Bryan Stefanoni
news@joplinglobe.com
PITTSBURG, Kan. — Capturing the energy of black holes to power our world sounds too futuristic to be true, but less than a century ago, nuclear energy and moon shots were far-fetched, too.
Capturing that energy might not happen for generations, but Alexander Konopelko, a German physicist and assistant professor at Pittsburg State University for the past year, is laying the groundwork now.
“When people started experimenting with radioactivity, they didn’t dream about nuclear weapons — they were just performing fundamental research,” said Konopelko. “There were so many people against it. But scientists just went crazy about it. Of course it has its disadvantages, but it has its advantages too, and nuclear power plants in Europe provide about 50 percent of (some nations’) electricity.”
Konopelko and his research team recently received a $140,000 grant from NASA. “My research is trying to understand black holes — just the fundamentals,” he said. “They’re very powerful and can generate a lot of energy. You can capture that energy from a million miles away. Maybe we can use it someday.”
Konopelko, predicting that the Earth’s inhabitants will one day exhaust fossil fuels, said a black hole’s energy in the form of gamma radiation could provide an alternative source of energy once scientists better understand it.
“Our population is growing, and we want power to run our TVs and our cars and so on,” he said. “In order to support that, we need energy. Fossil fuels are cheap and easy, but once they are gone, then what? One possibility is to study things outside Earth, out in the universe.”
Konopelko formerly was a research scientist at Purdue University, at the University of Berlin and at the renowned Max Planck Institute of Nuclear Physics in Heidelberg, Germany. He now is the principal researcher for the NASA project. Collaborating with him are about 100 scientists from institutions across the United States and two of his students from PSU.
“We want to understand the nature of this ultra high energy gamma ray emission,” he said. “If we can track the absorption of it, we can explain different models of evolution and how the universe will evolve from now on. Black holes are one of the best things to study to give us these answers.”
The hands-on research that the project is providing Konopelko’s two students is invaluable, they said.
“As an aspiring professor, I now have a better understanding of not only the type of grants and research opportunities that are available, but also the process of completing successful research in a given field,” said Brad Smith, a graduate student in mathematics who is assisting Konopelko.
Undergraduate student Dongqing Huang also is assisting.
“I was interested in astrophysics since I was very young, and I just feel I am very lucky to meet Dr. Konopelko to do deep research in this area,” he said.
All about physics
Alexander Konopelko’s biggest discovery in the project to date? The realization that when he was seeking the NASA grant, it mattered little whether he worked at Pittsburg State University or some highly recognized research institution.
“I was very surprised to get this grant,” he said. “It might look strange to other researchers that this isn’t MIT or Harvard, but it shows the democracy and advantages of being in this country. NASA didn’t care about the name of the institution; they cared about physics, your work and your results. I’m very impressed and amazed by that.”
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