My life in space science and the JWST – with Maggie Aderin-Pocock

BBC's The Sky at Night presenter Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock shares her expertise and unique insights into the marvellous world of stars.

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This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 16 November 2024.

Find out more about Maggie's amazing career in physics, including her work on the James Webb Space Telescope, and other space science projects, and get inspiration from her incredible story of reaching for the stars.

00:00 Introduction and Maggie’s career
08:18 A history of our understanding of the universe
17:23 Maggie’s childhood and journey into science
33:46 Telescopes and how they’ve improved
40:57 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
47:39 What we’ve learned from the JWST
58:15 Earth observation satellites
1:00:38 How to reach for the stars
1:03:27 Finding exoplanets
1:05:35 Seeing earth from space and climate change
1:12:06 How crazy dreams can come true


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Dame Margaret Aderin-Pocock is a British space scientist and science educator. She is an honorary research associate of University College London's Department of Physics and Astronomy, and has been the chancellor of the University of Leicester since 1 March 2023. Since February 2014, she has co-presented the long-running astronomy television programme The Sky at Night with Chris Lintott. In 2020 she was awarded the Institute of Physics William Thomson, Lord Kelvin Medal and Prize for her public engagement in physics. She is the first black woman to win a gold medal in the Physics News Award and she served as the president of the British Science Association from 2021 to 2022.

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