Joanne Baker Q&A: 'I admire journalists who battle misinformation daily'
Illustration by Kristian Hammerstad
Joanne Baker was born in 1969 in Penzance. She is a writer and an editor who holds a PhD in astrophysics. She has been a Nasa Hubble fellow at the University of California, a Royal Society university research fellow at the University of Oxford, and a Radcliffe fellow at Harvard University.
What's your earliest memory?
I can remember being a baby, being bounced on my parents' knees and carried on their shoulders, and waking up to bright sunlight in my cot.
Who are your heroes?
BBC foreign correspondent Kate Adie inspires me – she was brave and bold and out all over the world reporting on everything, from wars to famines. Astronomer Patrick Moore was key to me studying physics and astronomy; I recall seeing a talk by him in a town hall when I was around ten years old. As an adult, I don't have a single hero, but I admire anyone who stands up for what's true, right and fair, including numerous journalists who battle misinformation daily.
What book last changed your thinking?
Eating and Being: A History of Ideas about Our Food and Ourselves by Steven Shapin. It's a history of the idea that 'we are what we eat'. For example, today we believe that people who eat lettuce, carrots or organic foods are not just healthier, but also morally superior to those who eat burgers. Modern nutrition is a lab-based equivalent to old concepts – dating back to ancient Greek and medieval medicine – where we try to eat things that correct some aspect of our body that's 'out of balance'. In an age of obesity drugs, the book really made me think about diet trends and how deep-rooted our attitudes to food are.
What would be your Mastermind specialist subject?
Although I might need to scratch my head to remember details, astronomy is the subject I've spent the most time absorbing. I just hope they don't ask me the name of a notable exoplanet – they have unmemorable identifiers like PSR B1257+12 B or OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb.
What political figure do you look up to?
Strong women inspire me, and one hugely influential figure is Gro Harlem Brundtland. She is a former Norwegian prime minister who led international policy on sustainability and climate change.
In which time and place, other than your own, would you like to live?
San Francisco in the 1960s. The music was great – Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Pete and Peggy Seeger, Joni Mitchell – as well as exciting jazz. Beat poets like Allen Ginsberg were pushing the thought boundaries.
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What's the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Do what you love. And yes, I've followed it. One of my university lecturers said this to me when I was unsure whether I could do a PhD in astronomy, after having been discouraged. I was one of few women in the field and experienced a lot of sexist attitudes. So, I did the PhD. I've also followed this advice by going into journalism and writing.
What TV show could you not live without?
Gardener's World. I can't believe how many years I have watched it. I'm a keen gardener and I find it both relaxing and comforting. During Covid-19 lockdowns, when they brought in video snippets of the public showing off their own amazing gardens with such enthusiasm, it was a bright spot.
What's currently bugging you?
Apart from Donald Trump's wild policies? Artificial intelligence. It's being rolled out to the public with hardly any safeguards, and it stands to change how we interact, work and access information about the world, with profound consequences.
What single thing would make your life better?
More time to do all the good things, like exercise, get out in nature, spend more time with people, and travel.
When were you happiest?
When I was 18 and had no cares or worries, just after my A-levels when I was about to go to university and could spend the summer hanging out at the beach and looking ahead. Also, when sailing – getting away from worries onshore.
In another life, what job might you have chosen?
I would be a landscape architect – I trained in it, but journalism captured me. Being creative, working directly with nature, and being outside a lot would be lovely. We badly need to green up our environments.
Are we all doomed?
Well, yes and no. Of course, we're not going to live forever. But that's why we should enjoy the here and now on this lovely planet while we can – we just have to make sure we don't trash it.
Joanne Baker's 'Starwatchers: A History of Discovery in the Night Sky' is published by Bloomsbury
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