Davidson High School - The Start of a Galactic Quest

Davidson HS alumni, Dr Kirsten Banks, and the impact her physics teacher had.

A galactic road map may well have had it’s start at Davidson High School, where astrophysicist Dr Kirsten Banks first fell in love with physics.

Dr Banks recounts that it was a school visit to the Imax theatre to see a documentary about the Hubble Space Telescope that set her on her future course.

“I was absolutely enthralled by how much information we can learn from distant objects just by looking at their light. And from that moment I wanted to study the universe and be an astrophysicist,” she said.

Fortunately for Dr Banks, the lessons provided by Mr Alan Ferris nurtured her passion for learning and for physics.

“He went further than just the syllabus and the textbook. He was very practical and hands on with showing us how physics worked,” she said, explaining how Mr Ferris once got students to push each other around in a wheeled office chair to explain the forces of friction.

“Those sorts of practical examples let us see physics in the real world and really helped me conceptualise physics and understand it at a more intuitive level,” Dr Banks said.

After a variety of careers, from farming in England to auctioneering in Australia, Alan Ferris was encouraged into teaching by his wife, then principal at Pittwater High School.

Mr Ferris said his wife knew he would be a good teacher, and he was drawn to physics as it is fundamental for understanding the world around us.

“Everything we do is based on physics, from the very largest to the very smallest things in the universe,” he said.

Mr Ferris, now retired, remembers Dr Banks as being very well organised, and one of the first to use an iPad effectively in her learning.

“She was always forward thinking, and knew exactly what she needed to do next,” he said.

And what Dr Banks did next was complete a PhD in astrophysics, where she studied two types of red giant star to understand more about the history of the galaxy.

“I found the very slight differences between two different types of red giant stars can help us distinguish them really effectively.

“Some are useful to map the galaxy and then work out its history, and as they are like a cosmic streetlight, we can use their apparent brightness to work out their very precise locations,” Dr Banks said.

Like those cosmic streetlights Dr Banks found in the red giants, she believes the impact of a great teacher like Mr Ferris of Davidson High School is crucial to future direction.

“Having a really nurturing and influential teacher makes a big difference on what direction a student will take.”

Fun fact: one of the Snowy 2.0 (not so) boring machines is named after Dr Kirsten Banks!