RIYADH: Anja C. Andersen, a professor in astrophysics and professor for the public understanding of science at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, is delighted at finally returning to Riyadh after four decades.
The Royal Danish Embassy hosted “A Night Under the Stars” on Monday to bring together science, culture, and curiosity in the Saudi capital.
An astronomer and astrophysicist from Horsholm in Denmark, Andersen — in an exclusive interview with Arab News — shared her journey in exploring the wonders of the cosmos and explained how the stars above Riyadh sparked her interest in space.
She said: “I spent my teenage years in Riyadh in a compound 25 km outside the city. I moved here when I was 13, and lived for a few years with my parents. My father was working with Ericsson Telephones.
“My parents had given me a small telescope. One of the really wonderful things about Saudi Arabia is that it’s almost never cloudy, and during the winter it’s actually quite pleasant to sit outside and look at the stars. And since you are closer to the equator, you can see both the constellation Crux of Southern Cross and the Big Dipper constellation. So it was much more pleasant to observe stars. You could see a lot more stars and that just made me passionate about space.”
