An EconoTimes perspective

Duane Hamacher

Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne

Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne Duane Hamacher is Associate Professor of Cultural Astronomy in the ASTRO-3D Centre of Excellence and the School of Physics at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on the role of astronomy in history, culture, and society. Born in the United States, Duane earned a degree in physics at the University of Missouri before moving to Australia to complete a Masters degree (by research) in astrophysics at UNSW, followed by a PhD in Indigenous studies at Macquarie University with a thesis on Australian Aboriginal astronomy. He was awarded a DECRA Fellowship to work for Meriam Elders in the eastern Torres Strait to document their star knowledge and from October 2022 to July 2023 worked as a CAPAS Fellow in the Käte Hamburger Centre for Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic Studies at Universität Heidelberg in Germany. He authored the book "The First Astronomers: how Indigenous Elders read the stars" (Allen & Unwin, 2022) with six Elders. 100% of author royalties go to charity. He is President and Founder of the Australian Association for Astronomy in Culture, Vice President of the International Society of Archaeoastronomy and Astronomy in Culture, a member of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). He serves in the IAU Working Group on Star Names, is an associate editor of the Journal of Astronomical History & Heritage, and appeared on documentaries with Morgan Freeman, Warwick Thornton, Clive Oppenheimer, and Werner Herzog.