Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Peter Jonker. After my PhD, I worked as a post-doc in the UK and USA. The first courses that I taught at Radboud University were in the BA (a course called Space Astronomy), and for a few years, I taught a course on Black Holes for the Honours Academy of Radboud. For the last 5 years I have been teaching a course in the MSc, called Black Holes and Accretion, together with Monika Moscibrodzka.
Why did you choose to study/work in this field? What makes this field so interesting?
Astronomy is a field where many new discoveries are made. The use of the Universe as a large physics laboratory has fascinated me since I was about 12 years old. At that point in time, I was very much interested in how life started on a planet like Earth.
What are you currently doing your own research on?
My research group currently focuses on trying to understand peculiar signals detected in X-ray light. These events are called Fast X-ray Transients. These signals are flashes of X-ray emission lasting minutes to hours sometimes, that come from other galaxies.
What advice do you have for students making their study choice?
Choose a subject that you like.
What is the best part of being a lecturer?
"Teaching teaches the teacher" is a saying I encountered. I like to learn new things, for instance from the interactions with the students who can provide fresh and new looks on the subject matter.