It has been fantastic to participate in I’m a Scientist and get to answer so many amazing questions. I felt that just chatting to students was already such an amazing prize, but I was obviously over the moon (over the Galaxy?) to know that students voted for me to win! Thank you so much to all of those that participated, that asked questions, that voted for me and for the other brilliant scientists, and also to I’m a Scientist team for all the hard work that continues to pay off so much!

I consider myself so lucky for being able to use some of the best telescopes on Earth and in space to go back in time. Trying to understand how galaxies such as our own formed and evolved across more than 13 billion years. Discovering some of the 2 trillion galaxies out there and studying the signatures and lives of over 1 septillion stars and planets (that’s 100000000000000000000000!). It’s truly mind-blowing and humbling to realise that each one of us is just 1 in a number made of 84 zeroes that is the observable Universe.

Me and you and anyone else: we are 1 in 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000! We are incredibly and utterly insignificant. Yet, with Science, and by working together, we can explore the world around us, right here on Earth (and go to space if we are lucky!), to explore, discover and make sense of the entirety of the Universe! We may be insignificant on our own, but together and by exploring all the best that humankind and science have to offer, we can dream big and “travel” to nearby and distant planets, stars and galaxies. Even imagine how it might be to go near and inside a black hole, or whether other Universes exist. It’s *awesome*!

Every single atom of oxygen that we breathe and that exists in the Universe was made in massive stars (much bigger than the Sun!) and released when they exploded as supernova. About 90% of what makes us was produced in stars, and only 10% of us is as old as the Big Bang. We are all connected to what lies above. Perhaps the Universe is filled with life, or perhaps life is rarer than we might think. Regardless, there are certainly so many unexpected discoveries, waiting to be made if we keep questioning and working together. Both here on Earth and across the Galaxy and the Universe!

I’m really looking forward to further developing all the activities and contents in my https://xgalweb.wordpress.com page, allowing students from all over the world to get to know how we discover galaxies and study the Universe and to make their own discoveries and submit those to us. If you already want to try out some of the activities: https://xgalweb.wordpress.com/xgal-diy-make-your-own-discoveries/

Finally, I would definitely encourage all scientists to consider participating in I’m a Scientist. It’s just brilliant and so much fun!

David