Sixth in a series
Re “Lost in Space? Not Dr. Levin, the Would-Be Astronaut”
How does a child start out to be a rocket scientist?
“I was one of those kids who took everything apart,” according to the Dr. Steve Levin model, from the 1960s, when he was growing up in Santa Monica. “My parents’ friends and relatives would give me clocks and things. I would take them apart and put them back together.
“I played with toys, too. But a lot of toys are fun taking apart and putting back together.”
Question: Growing up in the decade the U.S. went to the moon, what was it about going to another planet that was so irresistible?
[img]1993|right|Steve Levin||no_popup[/img]“We are sending a robotic spacecraft to another planet – I am not personally going to get to go,” said Dr. Levin, a candidate for the School Board in the Nov. 5 election.
“It may be different for other people, but for me, it is really about solving the puzzle. What we are doing now with the spacecraft, the main project I am working on, we are trying to understand, how do planets work? How do solar systems work? Ultimately, where do we come from?
“We are working on big questions, and we are trying to get real answers that we can back up so we can say, ‘Here is the answer’ and ‘Here is why I believe it.’ Or ‘Here is the unanswered question,’ and start looking for what to do next to figure out the answer,” Dr. Levin said.
After solving many problems that formerly eluded you, how is your life different? Are you more or less skeptical than you used to be?
“If anything,” he said, “I am less skeptical. That doesn’t come from the science side, though. That comes from volunteering. My daughter is in the 10th grade. Since she was in kindergarten, I have been involved in Culver City schools on a local level. Longer than that in other schools in matters related to work. I can see that a small number of people can make a real difference.
“I am working on a project at work where we are letting school kids all over the country, over the internet, run a radio telescope, do real science, learn about science by doing science.”
(To be continued)
