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Archimedes was my ideal. I admired the works of artists, but to my mind, they were only shadows and semblances. The inventor, I thought, gives to the world creations which are palpable, which live and work.

Growing up on a farm was the best. I remember loving that expanse of space. The sky at night was so clear, I could see every star.

Who among us has never looked up into the heavens on a starlit night, lost in wonder at the vastness of space and the beauty of the stars?

During the winter my attention was attracted to the changes in the stars and planets in the sky.

At the age of eight, I bought my first telescope and would spend hours gazing at the moon and stars. I remember thinking what it must have been like when man first realized that we were only a very small part of the overall picture.

Also by my earliest days, I was fascinated by a utopian vision of what the world could be like. I've thought that science could be the basis for a better world, and that's what I've been trying to do all these years.

The thing I like about astronomy is being outside at night and seeing the stars in a dark sky. It makes you feel small.

Photography was a blessing because it filled my time.

When, according to habit, I was contemplating the stars in a clear sky, I noticed a new and unusual star, surpassing the other stars in brilliancy. There had never before been any star in that place in the sky.

If I didn't choose art, I would have become an astronomer.