His profession is his passion. And what the astronomer and physicist André Füzfa loves above all else is communicating his knowledge to the public, with humility.

The propagation of sciences is his credo. André Füzfa is a high-flying scientist who wishes to make knowledge accessible to the largest number of people possible. The holder of a doctorate in physical sciences, a professor at the UNamur, he carries out scientific research into directed energy propulsion for interstellar exploration. Hyperactive, passionate about planets and stars, in 2019 he saw the fruits of long years of labour take concrete form: the Antoine Thomas S.J. astronomical observatory opened its doors on the roofs of the Namur university. A means of permitting very high-quality observations of the sky, even within the very city limits.

Getting started on astronomy

The cupola, weighing a ton and raised to a height of over twenty metres, is entirely automated. ‘Inside are state-of-the-art instruments such as a large-diameter solar telescope, unique in Wallonia, allowing eruptive events on the surface of the sun to be observed in complete safety,’ the project’s pilot enthusiastically explains. An imaging device reveals the main deep sky objects in a few minutes by filtering light pollution. A high magnification telescope for its part allows observations of the moon, the planets and the sky’s smaller objects.

Discovering celestial marvels is an unforgettable experience for those bold enough to immerse themselves in it, above all in this Observatory which aims to be resolutely pedagogical. ‘I meet a wide audience there. Sharing my knowledge is a genuine pleasure. And that also leads me to make progress, because the participants ask me questions or make comments which allow me to develop my own pathway. It’s mutually beneficial.’

Meeting between arts and sciences

The Observatory is a site of scientific and cultural mediation open to one and all. That is how that, since 2021, it has been the seat of an Arts & Sciences residency driven by KIKK, an association which promotes digital and creative cultures at the intersection of art, culture, science and technology.

Over the summer of 2023, André Füzfa worked with Louise Charlier, a Belgian visual artist. When she afterwards took up a residency at the ESOC (European Space Operations Centre), in Darmstadt in Germany, she invited him to take part in a rich brainstorming panel on the arts and science. There he was able to take note of the differences in approach between the arts world and the world of science, but also their similarities in terms of the validation of their product: an artwork or a scientific result.

‘When I work with artists, I know that I will be dealing with people who ask themselves relevant and deep questions about the real. That they will push me and take me out of my comfort zone, because they do not do so with the same methods as I do. You have to adapt to another way of thinking, learn to talk to each other, as is the case with scientists working in another discipline. That really opens your mind.’And, from time to time, this collaboration leads to a tool providing remarkable services. In 2021, Lucien Bitaux was in residency at the Observatory. ‘This artist was looking into flaws in optical lenses and artefacts in images. In combining our ways of seeing, we designed an object enabling the mirrors of a telescope to be aligned in scarcely ten minutes, whereas previously it took several hours, with a huge risk of getting it wrong. We went and got it cut in PVC with the laser cutting machine at TRAKK. And I am still using it today!’

The pleasure of creating

By dint of spending time with artists, André Füzfa has also succumbed to the temptation of an artistic experiment. And one year later came the publication of his first novel, ‘À l’appel des étoiles.’ Self-published, ‘to have more freedom’, the work can be classified within the educational science fiction category.

‘There is real pleasure in indulging in such a creative approach. I have a whale of a time doing that. It’s really fun when all the storyline motivations fall into place. When it just runs along smoothly. When the dialogue and the situations come one after the other. It really does me a lot of good. There is a similar feeling you can have when writing science-based articles, when the ideas fall into place and everything becomes clear, when you let yourself go with the flow.’

Talents for popularising

The novel, ‘The Call of the Stars’, is a story based on current knowledge in the domains of astrophysics, astronomy, artificial intelligence, and theoretical physics. No, don’t go running off! The work aims to be purposefully accessible and didactic. These scientific notions, which on the face of it may appear taxing, are rendered less complex by André Füzfa’s talent for popularisation. He has for that matter received recognition for this skill, with a Wernaers prize being awarded to him in 2013.

‘In this novel, you learn many things. Especially how to read the night sky, as the heroine pilots the spacecraft with the aid of a celestial map, by locating the constellations. The narrative is set against a backdrop of a relativist interstellar voyage: the effects of time dilation are explained. The physical aspects of black holes are also brought into play.’ 

Outcry over transhumanism

‘Whilst fiction is a marvellous domain by which to teach things about reality, it is also a fantastic tool to share questions, to speak out about things.’ Transhumanism in particular. André Füzfa does not have a lot of time for this school of thought, according to which the physical and intellectual capacities of human beings could be augmented thanks to scientific and technical progress.’

‘In my book, a twisted megalomaniac has the idea of hijacking the interstellar journey in order to extend his life. And he will do everything to achieve his goal. That allows one to start wondering: what type of person could be so hellbent on extending their life up to 150 or 200 years, to the detriment of other human beings, energy resources, ethics?’

Feminist scientist

Fundamental questions on the nature of gravitation, already touched upon in this first book, will be followed up in the sequel, which André Füzfa is currently writing.

‘Apart from the spatial universe, and the issues of the pillaging of the solar system’s resources, the central theme of this Volume 2 is feminism. By virtue of my circumstances, I cannot be a spokesperson for feminism. But it is a subject which speaks to me and which is, I think, important, even for white men in their forties, because it affects everybody. It’s a lot more than a problem of gender, it is a problem of an outlook on the world and relationships between people. Feminism is a cause which is just,’ concludes André Füzfa.

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