The following article is reprinted courtesy of The Hamilton Spectator, McMaster University’s partner in the Science in the City Lecture Series.
Wade Hemsworth
February 21, 2011
For Dave Williams, the excitement of being in space never fades.
The Canadian astronaut, surgeon and scientist flew on two NASA space shuttle missions, in 1998 and 2007. On the second, he made three walks in space totaling nearly 18 hours, setting a Canadian record.
He also lived in and directed in an underwater NASA lab on the ocean floor off the coast of Florida.
He has seen our planet from above and below and the more he sees, the more fascinating the world becomes.
“I look at myself as a scientific explorer,” he says. “For me, the definition of exploration is relentlessly seeking knowledge with passion.”
Observing Earth from space was for him the realization of a dream he’d had since boyhood, and now he considers it his happy duty to share not only what it looked like, but how it felt to be there.
Williams, who is now director of the McMaster Centre for Medical Robotics at St. Joseph’s Healthcare, is to speak to the public in a free lecture Tuesday evening, part of McMaster University and The Hamilton Spectator’s Science in the City series.
“For me it’s an opportunity to pass on the experience to the next generation,” he says. “It’s part of sharing the experience, sharing the journey. I feel very privileged to have represented Canada.”
He said he never tires of speaking to scientists, students and the general public.
“For me it’s still exciting,” he says. “When I give a talk and show a video segment of launch or a video segment of what it’s like being in space, I still get excited about it. It takes me back to the moment. I think that’s really a reflection of the passion I have for being able to go forth and explore.”
From space, he said it is possible to see the smudge of air pollution blowing across the Earth’s continents, and to see water pollution drifting in the oceans.
“We live on the surface of our planet, which appears vast and infinite,” he says. “It’s only when you get out in space that you realize it’s not, and we had better take care of it.”
Still, he remains hopeful that the species that created such hazards also has the capacity to deal with them.
“I’m optimistic about it,” he says.
905-526-3254