Professor Steven Tingay inspires others to reach for the stars

Distinguished Professor Steven Tingay’s head is in the stars — but his heart and sense of home are very much planted in WA. The maverick astrophysicist is among the finalists in this year’s Western Australian of the Year Awards. “Some of (my) characteristics, I think, are typically Western Australian. You’ve got to be self-reliant; you can’t be super dependent on people on the other side of the country, and there’s a bit of a frontier mentality, which I really like. “I sort of decided that, even though I grew up in Victoria, I’ve been a little bit Western Australian all the time.” In the 15 years he’s been here, the 54-year-old helped put the State front and centre of international efforts to uncover the deepest secrets of the universe. Professor Tingay is the Executive Director of the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA) at Curtin University and the director of the Murchison Widefield Array. The MWA radio telescope is the precursor instrument of the A$1 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA), which is being built at the same site, 300km inland from Geraldton. The MWA was on the rocks when Professor Tingay moved to WA in 2007. “The funding agency out of the US got a bit impatient ... and asked me to come in and reform the team and rebuild the project,” he said. “By about 2011, I’d secured all of the funding and had a solid plan for delivery. And from that point, we executed and brought the facility online in 2013.” The MWA’s success was vital to WA securing one of the two sites for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), an international project to build the world’s largest and most capable radio telescopes. “(MWA) allowed us to get a head start on the science that the SKA is going to do. But really importantly, provide a focal point for the development and building up of the community of people, the next generation, who are going to be the leaders in the SKA era,” he said. “I look back on those challenges and difficulties. I also look back on how the team pulled together from that point. “I remember the vibe and the enthusiasm. I remember all the young people that came into the project who, ten years down the track, are now some of the leading radio astronomers in the world, out of our institute.” Professor Tingay has been mesmerised by the wonders of space from a young age. “The story my mum used to tell me was that my great-grandmother used to walk me up and down the street as a baby at night, pointing out the constellations and naming the stars and talking to me about them,” he said. “I can’t verify that, but Mum said it, so I imagine it’s probably true. But at age five, one of my uncles gave me a little book about the planets in the universe. And I tore through that and thought, that’s amazing. And then someone said, ‘Well, you can go outside tonight and look up the sky and see that yourself’, which just blew me away. ‘That sense of wonder has never left me.” He can see other children in WA being inspired in the same way. His time in WA has brought his own cultural education. “Something that I didn’t really have any exposure to anywhere else in the world has been the indigenous culture and tradition of looking at the sky. “Since about 2009, I’ve had a really close and productive, collaborative relationship with indigenous artists out of Geraldton. We’ve produced cross cultural exhibitions, films, all sorts of things. “As a scientist, it was a real eye-opener to me to get a completely different perspective on the night sky and what’s in it and what it means. That’s definitely something that I would never have got, if I hadn’t come to Western Australia. “It’s been a big part of my last 15 years and one of the best things I’ve done in my career.” Professor Tingay is nominated for the APM Professions Award. There are 21 finalists across seven categories with the winners of each category and overall winner to be announced at The Western Australian of the Year Awards, which are being held on Thursday, May 30, at Crown Perth.