The work of astronomer and science communicator Julie Bolduc-Duval in the months preceding the total solar eclipse of April 8 was praised by the magazine News who named her among its five personalities of the year 2024. This recognition is a nice surprise for the Thetfordoise who has been working in astronomy education for around twenty years.
“In the name of the common good, they demonstrated courage, strength and tenacity, but also humility,” underlines News about the personalities chosen by the magazine team. Sandra Demontigny, Simon Jolin-Barrette, Alexandre Lamontagne and the non-profit organization Utile (The Work Unit for the Implementation of Student Housing) are the other recipients of this mention.
It was in the fall that Ms. Bolduc-Duval learned that she had been selected. “I instantly fell out of my chair. I didn’t expect that at all. It’s certainly a heart-warming recognition. I worked extremely hard to try so that as many people as possible could experience this extraordinary moment, but I remain convinced that it could have been a group nomination for Éclipse Québec since there were several of us working together. I was not alone in doing it,” she said in an interview with the Courrier Frontenac.
The latter is director of the “Discovering the Universe” program. Offered in French and English, it helps primary and secondary teachers with educational content related to astronomy. The months leading up to the eclipse were therefore very busy. She also participated in the writing of a book with science journalist Joël Leblanc, Eclipse: when the Sun does its circus. This publication has also proven to be a reference.
His goal for this extraordinary event was that as many people as possible could experience it. “It was on a Monday afternoon, so we wanted the schools to get on board. There were still constraints, including the fact that it was going to happen close to school let-out time. There was also the issue of security that we wanted to explain without turning into panic. We worked very hard upstream to offer training, find funding to distribute glasses and share information so that initiatives could be launched. »
The event was a success in several cities and schools in Quebec. The astronomer notably mentioned the Appalachian School Service Center which decided to bring this to life for its students by providing them with glasses. She also spoke about the City of Saint-Georges which had invited its population as well as those from outside to a gathering. For her part, despite several invitations to different activities, Julie Bolduc-Duval chose to experience this moment in the company of her family near Lake Aylmer.
There are, however, places where the dissemination of information has worked much less. In fact, some school service centers had decided to move an educational day to April 8, citing security concerns. The science communicator admitted that she is still struggling to turn the page on the unfortunate situation linked to the panic which marked the weeks preceding the eclipse.
“It really took me by surprise. We experienced this a lot at the school level, where teachers were ready and suddenly had their great initiatives cut off by leaders who only saw the issue of safety. However, it was not complicated to do it correctly if the information was well transmitted. I found it very difficult and it really disturbed me. To this day, I wonder how we got to this point. »
One of the next total solar eclipses will take place in northern Africa in August 2027. The astronomer would like to share the expertise that has developed here. “The idea is to see how we could pay it forward, maybe to prevent the same mistakes from happening again, at least talk about the lessons that we have learned here so that they can build on that. We haven’t taken a lot of steps yet, but we are starting to share the information with contacts in order to offer them. »
Julie Bolduc-Duval also continues her work with the “Discovering the Universe” program to help teach astronomy in schools.
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