Jul 2, 2009 11:10 pm US/Central
'Rockstar' Astronomer Makes A Fantastic Discovery
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) ―
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Michael Koppelman has lived an interesting life. He used to play and record with Prince, and he's started two companies. But it's what he discovered one night while gazing up at a Minnesota sky that brought him international attention.
CBS
Michael Koppelman has lived an interesting life. He used to play and record with Prince, and he's started two companies. But it's what he discovered one night while gazing up at a Minnesota sky that brought him international attention.
Koppelman co-founded Clockwork, a Web site and Internet development company with progressive ideas.
"Having someone be there from 8 to 5 is like ludicrous when what you care about is how well they get their job done," said Koppelman.
However, the successful computer guy wanted to be something very different growing up.
"I was totally a music guy. I played guitar, I wanted to be a rock star. I mean, my whole life was music. I could see no other outcome besides me being a rock star," said Koppelman.
And he got real close.
"I remember the first time I saw Prince I was absolutely terrified. He's just a terrifying person. I don't why. He's just this tall and doesn't say a word and yet somehow he is terrifying," he recalled.
Koppelman was in his early 20s. He worked his way up at Paisley Park and would eventually record and mix Prince's Diamonds and Pearls Album along with parts of Graffiti Bridge and Love Symbol.
"I was in the studio with him for 14 hours a day for two years," he said.
He even played bass on a track called Blue Light.
Koppelman said playing with Prince was a mind blowing experience.
However, his next big adventure would be really cosmic, literally. When his girlfriend gave him a telescope he became obsessed with astronomy.
"So I would be out there 10 below on some country road in a parka with this telescope looking around at things. I was insane," said Koppelman.
That passion would lead him to build his own observatory about an hour south of Twin Cities.
The former rocker was singing a different tune -- he was "Blinded by Science".
"I can't look at anything and not think about the physics behind it. When I see the wind blow or the sun shine or water dripping I'm thinking about our understanding of that in terms of physics and to me it's amazing, it's miraculous," said Koppelman.
Koppelman started taking classes at the University of Minnesota. He took his first class in 2000 and eventually earned a degree in astrophysics in 2008.
Roberta Humphrey has a Ph.D. in astrophysics.
"He was very determined," Humphrey said. "He was an excellent student, practically a straight-A student and graduated with honors."
Roberta Humphrey says what Koppelman did next was extremely difficult, rare and unusual.
"I was like, oh my God, that looks like a gamma ray afterglow," exclaimed Koppelman.
A gamma ray burst is a beam of photons coming from an exploding massive star at an extraordinary distance. It may not look like much on a computer screen, but it would be like snapping a picture of a single light house beam that originated nearly 10 billion years ago.
"It was important. It was very important," said Humphrey.
And it was exciting. It was science.
Remember, that beam he found was flash that left that exploding star 10 billion years ago.
"Literally before the earth was here," said Koppelman. "We're not talking the dinosaur times. We're talking before the sun formed and yet I was able to catch it on a backyard telescope. To me that is just fascinating."
A fascinating discovery that made an amateur astronomer a bit of legend, or dare we say, a bit of a rock star.
For more on Koppelman's astronomy and trying it yourself, click on the links below.
The Galileoscope Project, Purchase Telescope Kit
Koppelman Astronomy Podcast
The International Year of Astronomy 2009
The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast
Koppelman's Web Site Clockwork
Koppelman Observatory
Koppelman's Band: Tea and Sympathy
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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