Geoff Bower is a professional astronomer who works on top of the mountain Maunakea on Hawaiʻi. He is a project scientist at the Event Horizon Telescope and played an important role in the creation of the first image of a black hole. In this episode we talk about what it means to be an astronomer on Hawaiʻi, both in terms of daily operations as well as concrete projects such as imaging a black hole. We also discuss the controversial impact that the telescopes have had on Maunakea and how the naming of the black hole at the centre of the galaxy M87 with a phrase from the Hawaiian language paid tribute to the Hawaiian legacy.

The episode was recorded as part of a research trip to Hawai'i that I made for a book about black holes. The book is now published as Facing Infinity: Black holes and our place on Earth (Atlantic Books, UK and The Experiment, US/Canada). It is available to order from facinginfinity.com.

Music credit: Jean Anguis.

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