Mar 25, 2009 - Claremont, Calif. - Harvey Mudd College (HMC) student Brandon Horn '09 has been awarded the prestigious Thomas J. Watson Fellowship for one year of independent study abroad after graduation, it was announced recently.

Horn, a native of Ocala, Fla., was awarded the fellowship based on his project, “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star: How We Wonder What You Are,” and will travel for 12 calendar months during 2009-10 to Australia, China, Sweden, Namibia, Chile and Peru. The Watson fellowship includes a $25,000 stipend for expenses during the year.

Horn describes his project in this way: “In my Watson year I will see how our cultural and scientific backgrounds influence our perceptions of the cosmos. I will use telescopes to bridge cultural divides and learn about people’s traditional cosmologies, while allowing the people I meet a glimpse of the universe I know and love. In this, I will come to understand the factors that influence what we think of when we look up at night.”

“I have wanted to be an astronomer since I was in middle school,” Horn explained. “I will be bringing along the telescope my parents bought me when I was 13, as well as approximately 100 Galileoscopes, which I will give to interested people. The Galileoscope is a telescope that costs less than $15 and is slightly larger than the telescope that Galileo used to discover the moons of Jupiter, sunspots, the phases of Venus and craters on the moon 400 years ago.”

“Since it is the 400th aniversary of Galileo’s discoveries, the astronomy community is celebrating the International Year of Astronomy (IYA),” Horn said. “This includes star parties and more public nights at observatories around the world, as well as other events particular to each country. The IYA provides a useful way for me to keep up on astronomy events in each country I am visiting, but obviously I cannot count on there being a star party every night."

Horn plans to visit public parks, where he will set up his telescope and invite passers-by to look through it. “This will hopefully act as a catalyst and spark up a conversation about the universe,” he said. “I would like to get people to draw maps of how they see the universe, and also learn how important they feel understanding the rest of the universe is.

“In observing these ethnoastronomies, I am not searching for cultural novelties to be used in lecture hall anecdotes, but rather am searching for the effect our cosmologies have on our philosophies and lifestyles, so that I can create a bridge across cultures and effectively communicate about astronomy with people who do not necessarily share my background. The telescopes will be my window into other cultures’ universes.”

A physics major, Horn plans to pursue his Ph.D. in astrophysics after his Watson year, and spent time during spring break in March visiting graduate schools.

“The Watson is not just a year of travel in between Harvey Mudd and graduate school for me—it is part of my plan to change the world,” Horn wrote in his proposal to the Watson Foundation. “I want to inspire the next generation of scientists, just as Carl Sagan inspired me, and I feel that taking a year to see what astronomy means to people around the world will allow me to reach more people more effectively.”

In his letter of nomination of Horn, HMC’s Louisa and Robert Miller Professor of Humanities Hal Barron, who coordinates the Watson Fellowship nomination process on campus, wrote: “Brandon Horn invokes Anaximenes’ query of Pythagoras (‘Why should I trouble myself in searching out the secrets of the stars, having death or slavery continuously in front of me?’) as he tries to understand and justify his own attraction to astronomy. His Watson project will enable him to search out the secrets of the people watching the stars as well as those of the stars themselves, and will help him deepen his own answers to Anaximenes’ question. In the end, this will only make him a better scientist. The Watson Fellowship will allow him to broaden his technical and scientific focus and to explore the different meanings of the stars in a variety of social and cultural contexts.”

Horn credits many of the faculty at HMC and The Claremont Colleges for enriching his appreciation for astronomy: “In addition to all the astronomy classes I’ve taken, Science Technology and Society—taught by Prof. [Marianne] De Laet—played a critical role in the formation of this project, and she helped me in fleshing out the proposal. I look forward to working with her professional friends in some of the countries I will be visiting. I would also like to thank Prof. [Ann] Esin at Mudd, and Prof. [Philip] Choi at Pomona [College], for being excellent astronomy teachers and encouraging me along the way.”

In a letter to HMC President Maria Klawe, Watson Foundation Director Cleveland Johnson explained that this year’s fellowship awards were unusually competitive due to the nation’s sagging economy: “Typically, from the almost 200 inspiring nominations we receive from our affiliated institutions, we are able to offer 50 fellowships and five alternate positions. Due to considerable endowment contraction, we are saddened this year to announce that we will be only able to offer 40 awards (and no alternates). The elimination of 10 fellowship slots has made this year’s competition especially fierce.”

The mission of the Thomas J. Watson Fellowship Program is to offer college graduates of unusual promise a year of independent, purposeful exploration and travel outside of the United States in order to enhance their capacity for resourcefulness, imagination, openness and leadership and to foster their humane and effective participation in the world community.

Recent winners of the Watson Fellowship from Harvey Mudd College include:

Nick Sherrow-Groves (2008-09)
“The Impact of Structural Failure in Earthquake-Prone Countries”

Stephanie Moyerman (2006-07)
“Judo: The Gentle Way of Exploring Cultural Differences”

Gwen Spencer (2005-06)
“Reinterpreting the Gender of Science and Technology in Emerging Economies”

Tara Martin (2004-05)
“Finding the Inner Beat: Cultural Expression Through Movement”

Anne Short (2002-03)
“Living and Catching Your Food: Food Attitudes in Subsistence Communities”

Brooke C. Basinger (2001-02)
“International Concepts in Roller Coaster Design”

Sarah Shapard (1999-2000)
“Attitudes Toward Aging