Shadia Habbal, a Syrian-born scientist, has been leading a team of international scientists and explorers since 1995 to monitor and collect data on the total solar eclipse (social networking sites)

Total solar eclipse events do not occur often, so the event expected on April 8 carries great importance for the professor of solar physics and head of the Department of Graduate Studies at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Hawaii, the scientist of Syrian origin, Shadia Habbal, who has been leading a team of scientists since 1995. and international explorers who travel around the world to observe and collect data on total solar eclipses.

Despite the extreme busyness in preparing for the upcoming scientific mission, we took minutes of the Syrian scientist’s time, who spoke to “Al Jazeera Net” via email about the value of this event from a scientific standpoint, and highlighted the preparations for the upcoming eclipse event. She also spoke about her scientific trip from Damascus to America, and highlighted The challenges you faced.

Habbal says: “The total eclipse event provides an appropriate opportunity to observe the solar corona, as during this event the Moon blocks the bright disk of the Sun, allowing the corona (the sun’s dim outer atmosphere) to be observed without glare from the surface of the Sun, and this provides a unique opportunity to study the structure of the corona and its dynamics.” "With high precision."

Over the past 17 years, Habbal has focused most of her attention on studying the solar winds closely related to the corona, which made academic circles call her “The Lady of the Sun,” especially after her success in changing many of the prevailing concepts about those winds.

Scientists assumed a long time ago that there are two types of winds that emanate from the sun, one with a speed of 800 kilometers per second, and the other with heavy movement that comes from the equatorial region of the sun. However, observing the sun at the time of the eclipse allowed Habbal, after dozens of scientific trips, to prove that these assumptions were not correct, and that the components of the solar wind from charged particles (mostly electrons and protons) come from everywhere in the corona, and their speed depends on the magnetism of the areas from which they came. .

Through this research, Habbal was able to calculate the speed of these particles reaching the Earth, predict their impact on satellites and electricity production plants, and avoid their potential harm.

With the upcoming eclipse event, Habbal continues more research on the solar wind, and says: “We have three observation sites from Earth, about 500 miles apart, and we will have the same devices in each of them, which are imaging devices that determine precise colors or wavelengths in the visible part of the sun.” Emission from the corona, and spectrometers that analyze the chemical composition of the corona.”

Aside from the research that can be conducted at the time of the eclipse, Habbal confirms that the occurrence of the phenomenon on the date specified for it in advance is confirmation of the accuracy of astronomical calculations, noting that the occurrence of differences between Arab countries in determining the beginning of the month of Ramadan, despite the accuracy of the calculations, is due to some of them relying on visual means. Instead of highly accurate astronomical tables.

Shadia Habbal, a scientist of Syrian origin and nicknamed “The Lady of the Sun,” succeeded through her extensive study of the solar corona in changing many of the prevailing concepts about the solar wind (French)

The secret of specialization in astrophysics

The striking irony is that the native of the Syrian city of Homs, who became one of the most prominent international scientists in astrophysics and editor-in-chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research, was not planning to specialize in astrophysics, as she revealed in her interview with Al Jazeera Net.

Habbal graduated in the early 1970s from the Faculty of Science at the University of Damascus, before joining the American University of Beirut to obtain a master’s degree in physics. In 1973, she moved to the United States to continue her studies, where she obtained a doctorate from the University of Cincinnati in 1977, specializing in astrophysics. He is a postdoc at the University of Boulder.

“It was a coincidence,” Habbal says. “I worked with two scientists in Boulder as a postdoctoral researcher, and their specialty was solar and space physics.”

Although she had previously described the study of astronomy as not being highly appreciated in the Arab world due to limited funding and a limited vision for this science, when she was asked about the UAE’s space orientation, and the view of some in the Arab world of this activity as a “luxury,” she tended to generalize and said: “ This feeling is not unique in the Arab world, as there are many people around the world who do not appreciate the value of scientific research in the field of astronomy and consider it a luxury, and it is not always easy for people to understand that it requires funding, and without funding no progress will occur in this field.”

“Our Lady of the Sun” announced in previous interviews that she was seeking to change this situation in her country, Syria, by implementing two attempts to study astronomy at the University of Damascus, where in 1999 she sought to include Syrian researchers in her research team at the University of Hawaii, and in 2008 she tried to introduce astronomy into the teaching curricula. However, both attempts did not lead to anything, and I felt that the professors and students were not interested in these sciences, which they see as related to horoscopes and simple matters, and they did not realize that physics is one of the basic sciences in the study of astronomy, and it has a major role in any major technological development that we witness today.

Despite this, she did not close the door to cooperation with her home country or any Arab country, but she told Al Jazeera Net: “I do not have specific plans or projects in this direction at the present time, because the infrastructure is still non-existent, at least to my knowledge.”

Diagnosis of diseases in scientific research

Habal considers the availability of the infrastructure and resources necessary for scientific research to be a condition for her to land in any country, so when we asked her about the possibility of her making the decision to return to Syria, she said: “This depends on there being a serious investment in scientific research,” and she continued: “I consider the world my homeland.” “I do not believe in geographical borders, and choosing where to live depends primarily on the resources available to me to pursue my scientific work.”

Habbal, the daughter of Syrian psychologist Naeem Al-Rifai, who fell in love with science since her childhood, believes that the Arab world does not lack brilliant researchers, but she added: “It is not a matter of a lack of ingenuity among those who strive to conduct research, but there must be “Governmental and educational support at all levels from primary school to university. It is the lack of resources in most Arab countries that stifles research.”

She admits that her path in the West was not paved, because women in the field of science in the West - like any Arab country - face challenges because they are female.

“I faced the same challenge that most women face and continue to face in any male-dominated field: women are still striving to be respected, accepted and taken seriously,” says the scientist, who leads an academic movement of scientists known as the Women Adventurous group.

Valuable advice from a long trip

During her journey in facing this challenge, Habbal created an inspiring success story in a field dominated by male researchers, during which she led 10 solar eclipse exploration missions around the world, and headed many scientific teams that participated in studying the eclipse in cooperation with NASA in the years 2006, 2008 and 2009.

During that trip, she played a major role in preparing for the flight of NASA's Solar Probe, which was the first spacecraft to study the solar atmosphere. She is a member of several professional bodies, including the American Astronomical Society and the International Astronomical Union, as well as being a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. .

During her career, she won many awards, including the “NASA Group Achievement Award” in 2000, the “Adventurous Women Lecture Series Award” from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in 1998, and the “Leadership Award” from the Arab Thought Organization in 2004.

Habbal believes that her movement during this long research journey between different countries and institutions, such as the University of Damascus, the American University of Beirut, and the University of Cincinnati; His primary motivation was “to seize research opportunities,” and she said that “perseverance and belief in strength were the fuel that ignited her enthusiasm and pushed her to succeed.”

When we asked her for advice to aspiring researchers in third world countries who want to write a success story similar to what she achieved, she said: “Believe in yourself and do not allow anyone to convince you that you are not good enough.”

Source: Al Jazeera