Section A·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Wednesday, April 8, 1998
Band-playing professor is a real space case
Keith Ashman, adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas and Baker University, also is a member of the band The Switch. Photo by Holly Groshong/KANSAN
During the day, he studies stars at night, he is one
Graham K. Johnson
gjohnson@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Keith Ashman isn't your ordinary punk rocker. When the stage lights dim and the sun comes up, Ashman switches back to his role as astrophysicist and teacher.
Ashman, the front man for the punk band The Switch, also is an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy doing research at the University of Kansas and serves as a part-time instructor at Baker University. Ashman also writes fiction, is working on a novel and loves baseball and gardening. Ashman says people have the mistaken notion that scientists are unartistic.
"The public image is that we're all cold and analytical." Ashman said. "Often the public misses the creativity involved in doing research."
Ashman said that trying to come up with a new idea in theoretical physics was like trying to write a new song. Both begin with blank pieces of paper.
"In many ways, they are similar," Ashman said. "Both require a certain amount of creativity."
Ashman, who won a departmental award for teaching at the University, said the same applied to teaching.
"You have to be creative in presenting information in such a way that students want to learn about it," Ashman said.
Hailing from a blue-collar section of London, Ashman said his deep British accent usually kept the class's interest for about two weeks. After that, he said, he had to find other ways of keeping the class tuned in. He often resorted to saying and doing outlandish things.
"I ifhaven't thrown at least one thing a day in my mechanics class, then I am
having a bad day," Ashman said.
John Paden, Baldwin senior, took two classes with Ashman when Ashman was teaching at the University of Kansas. He said that Ashman's approachability and wit made him an effective teacher.
effective teacher.
"One of the good points about Dr. Ashman was his humor," Paden said. "He was never dry."
Students also find his personal hobbies interesting.
"A lot of students thought it was quite a trip to be learning from me about modern physics at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon and at 11:30 that night be at the Bottleneck listening to me play music," Ashman said.
Colleagues in physics and astronomy don't seem to mind either, said Bruce Twarog, professor of physics and astronomy.
"He is judged, within the department.
on the basis of the quality of the work he does, which is excellent," Twarog said.
Ashman's research centers on star systems called globular clusters and the role they play in forming galaxies.
Globular clusters are extremely old, massive groups of stars that condensed with the forming of galaxies and serve as a sort of fossil record, he said.
Ashman uses the Hubble Space Telescope to do his research. It's one of the benefits of being a astrophysicist, Ashman said.
"Physicists don't get paid a lot of money," he said, "but you do get to play with $2.5 billion telescopes."
Ashman's most important work using Hubble was to support his theory that elliptical galaxies were formed by spiral galaxies slamming together.
However, teaching is the most influential work he does, Ashman said.
"As a profession, I can't think of many things that are more important than helping members of society understand how the world around them works," he said.
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