"If it's about astronomy, it's under me," says Laura Danly, curator of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. She has held the job since October 2006.
A gift from philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith, the observatory opened in 1935. It is part of a city park, and visitors pay no entrance fee. Legend has it Griffith had a transformative experience at Mount Wilson, says Danly. "He looked through a telescope and is quoted as saying, 'If everyone could look through a telescope, it would change the world.'"
"I'm here, giving people the opportunity, for free, to come in touch with the cosmos," says Danly. "It's just wonderful. I definitely have one of those jobs that, even if I didn't get paid to do it, I'd still want to."
Laura Danly at a recent All Space Considered event she organized at the Griffith Observatory. CREDIT: Griffith Observatory
Danly earned her bachelor's degree in physics at Yale University and her PhD in astronomy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. As a graduate student, she was involved in public outreach, an interest that helped propel her career to where it is now. "I've taken a lot of risks, and I've had a lot of fun," she says.
Physics Today's Toni Feder spoke by phone with Danly about her path to the Griffith and her work there.
PT: Why did you go into physics and astronomy?
DANLY: It goes back to the Mercury program—the human spaceflight program—and Star Trek. I was a kid in elementary school during all of that, and it was the coolest thing ever.
My story's really textbook, all the influences. I was fortunate to have a brother who was really into astronomy, and he often took me down to the Adler Planetarium. I grew up outside of Chicago.
I have always just had a desire to know what was out there. So I do think it probably dates back to the womb, if there is such a thing as people being born with some sort of path in place. I definitely feel that instinct was there, and all those other influences that I just mentioned just nourished it. I really do think it's innate.
PT: After your PhD, you got a job at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.
DANLY: I was just thrilled. Who wouldn't want to be at Space Telescope? It was the center of the universe! I started in 1987, and the Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990. I was there for a total of 10 years, 6 as a postdoc and 4 on staff.
PT: After your postdoc, what was your job at Space Telescope?
DANLY: My position, and it was ideally suited to me, was the first Project Scientist for Education. The Space Telescope Science Institute, and the Hubble project, had not engaged in much education. This was back in 1993, and there was a lot of debate about whether Space Telescope should get engaged in public education. The upshot was yes, but there were a lot of scientists who thought, "Let's stick to our primary mission." All observatory positions had half research and half service—the service roles were things like instrument scientist or data analysis manager. My service half was public outreach.
PT: What outreach experience had you had?
DANLY: As a graduate student I often ran public observation nights. I did a lot of public communications. It seemed natural to me, and I liked doing it.
So, when I got to Space Telescope as a postdoc, even though I was not paid for it and there was—believe me—no reward for it, I did a lot of outreach programs. In elementary schools, middle schools. We did tailor to underserved populations. I was especially interested in reaching out to girls and helping them get to college.
At the time, when I was in grad school and a postdoc, I think it's fair to say that there was still quite a bit of prejudice and discrimination. Women were not taken as seriously as men. The women at Space Telescope, and some men, undertook to try to address the problem. It led to—I am skipping forward—the Baltimore Charter for Women in Astronomy. It established a basic bill of rights for women astronomers.
The outreach I did was looked upon as soft. But that didn't bother me one tiny bit that I was fitting into a stereotype. I loved doing the public nights, I loved talking to the public.
Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, California, celebrates 80 years this year. It is free and open to the public. CREDIT: Griffith Observatory
PT: Why did you leave active research?
DANLY: I grew increasingly disenchanted with Space Telescope Science Institute. At the same time that my education position was funded, the institute as a whole got cut back, so the funds going to outreach were controversial. I didn't have support and I was not savvy at all about internal politics. I thought, "It's education, we are here to help the kids," and I couldn't understand why people were throwing roadblocks in the way. I felt increasingly isolated. It was brutal. I wanted out.
Along came a phone call from a friend: "Would you like to be a sabbatical replacement for me for a year at Pomona College?" I'd always wanted to live in California. I just said, immediately, on the phone, "Would I? Yes!" Honest to Pete, I have no idea what made him call me, but it was one of those moments when you literally think maybe you have just heard a choir of angels singing.
So, I took a leave of absence. I did not burn my bridges, but those bridges were in tatters anyway. Let me summarize by saying, it was a real lesson in office politics, and I learned it fast.
PT: What was the lesson?
DANLY: I learned not to be so naive. My big takeaway is, I wasn't happy, and I left. That was huge.
PT: What was it like to leave NASA?
DANLY: I had dreamed all my life of working at NASA, since I was a kid. And here I was, on staff at NASA's great telescope, doing what I loved, and to say "I'm out of here" was a huge leap. But fortunately, it was not a hard decision for me.
The thing I really had to wrestle with was what other people would think. I went down the list. Who is really going to care if I don't come back, if I make this leap? It got ridiculous, it got to the point where I was laughing out loud to myself. I thought, "Oh, come on, Laura, you are going to make this life decision based on whether so-and-so cares?" It was ridiculous. You come to realize, it doesn't matter what people think.
I had gone skydiving as a graduate student right before our prelims. Our whole group did. The theory was that it would help us feel empowered, like, if I can jump out of a plane, I can do my orals. I would recommend it highly. And that's what this felt like to me: Scary as all get out when you are in the plane looking down—oh my God, can I really take the jump away from NASA?—but as soon as I was gone, I was thrilled and never looked back.
Long after I had left, I got a call. Someone was interviewing every woman who had ever worked at Space Telescope to compile stories and look for trends to try to understand the problem: Space Telescope had so few women, and couldn't retain them. It was well known in the community as a difficult place for anybody, and particularly for women.
PT: How did you get into museums?
DANLY: Well, I was ecstatically happy at Pomona. It was like Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. It was like everything had been black and white and I stepped out into this world filled with color. When I went to resign, I was sitting in the director's office at Space Telescope, and, I kid you not, one of my former colleagues came bursting in, red-faced and furious, because one of the other senior people had gone behind her back on some issue. She ranted and was livid. I was like, yes, I'm out of here!
Being a professor is the best thing in the world. You get to teach bright kids. They are so smart and fun. I did a lot of creative things. I took a bunch of students to fly on the vomit comet. I invented a course on astrobiology. I took kids on fieldwork.
But the position was soft money. A friend called me and told me there would be a new exhibit being built at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. They needed a curator. I applied and got the job. It was half-time at the University of Denver as a professor in physics and half-time as curator of space sciences at the museum. It sounded perfect.
I was there for six or seven years. We finally opened the exhibit. It was an unbelievable amount of work. A joint position means you have a double position. I was unhappy with some of the things I saw around me. The bottom line is that for the second time I took a leap. I still had my Denver University half, but I was not scheduled to teach that semester. I got a car I could camp out of and basically took three months off. It was fabulous.
I went to the winter AAS [American Astronomical Society] meeting and was approached by a colleague who said they were looking for someone at the American Museum of Natural History to be a project manager for astronomy education. I moved to New York. I loved being at the American Museum of Natural History. I can only say that when I look at each of these different episodes, I feel like each gave me an opportunity to try something different. It really is about following the fun.
PT: How did you get to Griffith Observatory?
DANLY: I might have stayed there [at the American Museum of Natural History] longer, but from the time I had lived in California, I had wanted to come back to LA. When I was living in Denver, I wrote to Ed Krupp, the director of the Griffith Observatory, which I knew was undergoing renovation. I basically said, "I have this job offer in New York, but I feel like I am going in the wrong direction. I don't want to go East, I want to come West. Is there any opportunity to come to Griffith Observatory?"
I went to New York. A couple of years went by, and finally I was contacted by Griffith Observatory that they would be hiring a curator in time for their reopening. I had wanted to be at Griffith Observatory for years. It was just kind of taking the crooked path to get here.
PT: What do you do day to day at Griffith Observatory?
DANLY: I have the responsibility for anything that has to do with astronomy—educational programs, school programs, theater programs, planetarium programs, public programs like lectures, gallery stuff. I have a direct staff of 8, and maybe 120 or so part-time staff who run the telescopes, give the planetarium shows, staff the galleries, and support the technologies.
I am mostly behind the scenes. But we did start a monthly program called All Space Considered. It's the first Friday of each month, and there I directly engage with our audiences. I liken it to the Sunday football roundtable. It's a conversation, very informal. We laugh a lot and have a good time. It's always standing room only.
My focus is Los Angeles and the 1.3 million people who visit every year.
PT: Is there anything you would change?
DANLY: I wish our budget weren't so tight. Our funding comes through property taxes, and after the 2008 financial situation, they plummeted, of course. We are short staffed. Other than that, I have no complaints. I really am in hog heaven.
