ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Erika Hamden

Dr. Erika Hamden is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Her current projects include FIREBall, a UV balloon-borne telescope; KCRM, a spectrograph for the Keck telescope; and Hyperion, a UV space telescope she is currently developing. However, these amazing innovations did not come without a lot of trial and error.
Failure can happen to anyone — not just to the people creating space telescopes. A presentation flops, a start-up has a bumpy launch, a new initiative hits some roadblocks. This can be a huge blow and can often prevent teams from trying again. But Hamden suggests taking a cue from the scientific method, which regards failure as an important —and necessary—step towards achieving progress.
“The whole premise of science is to prove that your hypothesis is wrong,” she says. “Discovery is mostly a process of finding things that don’t work, and failure is inevitable when you’re pushing the limits of knowledge.” She shares valuable advice for bouncing back, whether you’re pushing the bounds of outer space or hunkered down in a home office.

Dr. Erika Hamden is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Arizona. Her current projects include FIREBall, a UV balloon-borne telescope; KCRM, a spectrograph for the Keck telescope; and Hyperion, a UV space telescope she is currently developing. However, these amazing innovations did not come without a lot of trial and error.
Failure can happen to anyone — not just to the people creating space telescopes. A presentation flops, a start-up has a bumpy launch, a new initiative hits some roadblocks. This can be a huge blow and can often prevent teams from trying again. But Hamden suggests taking a cue from the scientific method, which regards failure as an important —and necessary—step towards achieving progress.
“The whole premise of science is to prove that your hypothesis is wrong,” she says. “Discovery is mostly a process of finding things that don’t work, and failure is inevitable when you’re pushing the limits of knowledge.” She shares valuable advice for bouncing back, whether you’re pushing the bounds of outer space or hunkered down in a home office.