Heino Falcke, astrophysicist at Radboud University, has answers to most questions. Ask him how the earth was formed and he can explain it to you in detail. He can also tell you perfectly fine how a black hole works. But the eight-year-old girl who asked him how space could be so curved that everything fits into a black hole, was told that he did not know. 'At lectures, I often received profound questions from children. In Namibia, a little boy asked me how it was possible that sunspots are dark. I told him that this has to do with strong magnetic fields, which make this place cooler. Then he asked: ‘But how?’ I really had to look that up.'
Lecture for first-years
The children's questions eventually led to ‘Kruimels in het heelal’, the astronomer's first children's book. In the book, Jana asks all kinds of questions about the universe to her father, who is an astronomer. Falcke: ‘The content of the book is based on a lecture for first-year astronomers, but with everyday explanations instead of formulas.’
‘All of astrophysics is covered, from the origin of the Earth to the Big Bang.’ Falcke's wife Dagmar - director of a primary school – took care of the translation to children.
Falcke: ‘Children are interested in everything, but they often find space especially fascinating. Since the beginning of mankind, people have been looking up and asked themselves: what is out there? We yearn to get there, but that is not possible for most of us. In adults, that curiosity disappears, but children are still full of wonder.'
Sunflower
Falcke is convinced that you can explain everything to children – that is, if you know the answer yourself. 'If a child really keeps asking questions, I eventually get to a point where I no longer have the answer and can't explain any further. That's always a sign that I don't understand it myself.' For the book, he learned about a galaxy he hadn't heard of: ‘ I didn’t know about the sunflower galaxy. We cover that galaxy in the book. As a bonus, my wife loves sunflowers immensely, so that came together nicely.'
Their dream is for parents and children to read the book together. 'I hope they will engage in conversation together and children will be encouraged to keep asking questions. Not every child will study astronomy, but hopefully they will be challenged by the universe and their love of curiosity will be enhanced.' A tip for parents: it's okay to say you don't know an answer. ‘You can always say, as in the book: you're much smarter than me, with all your questions, but now it's really time to go to bed.’
The book ‘Kruimels in het heelal’ will be in bookshops from 19 September. On 22 September, the book will be presented at the planetarium of ARTIS, in Amsterdam.