Here at Future-ish, we love astronomy and we love cocktails. So to prep our fans (and ourselves) for those stellar weekend cocktail conversations, we are pleased to offer our Cocktail Astronomy post each Friday.
This is a special Cocktail Astronomy because this week we celebrate the life of David Bowie a groundbreaking musician, actor, artist, and activist. Bowie's outstanding achievements in all these fields are far too great to even attempt sharing in this small post, we would need thousands upon thousands of words to even start telling his amazing story.
So for this edition of Cocktail Astronomy, we invite you to raise a glass of Bowie's favorite cocktail (Gin Martini, Bombay Sapphire) in honor of his role in inspiring astronomers, physicists, and other space scientists. The obvious first step along this path is Bowie's many songs associated with space, including Space Oddity, Ashes to Ashes, and Hallo Spaceboy just to name a few. Bowie's performances often included clear, other-worldly inspiration. And then there's things like Commander Chris Hadfield's 2013 cover of Bowie's Space Oddity.
And then to January 5, 2016...upon hearing of Bowie's passing, social media was filled with farewells and praise for Bowie. These messages came from leading space scientists as well, such as Neil deGrasse Tyson, Deborah Berebichez, Brian Cox, Queen musician turned astrophysicist Brian May, and many many more.
Given Hadfield's reverence for Bowie, his tweet on Bowie is perhaps most profound:
"Ashes to ashes, dust to stardust. Your brilliance inspired us all. Goodbye Starman".
Cocktail Pairing: Gin Martini
More info:
- Cofield, C. 2016. Tribute to a Starman: David Bowie Mourned by Astronauts, Scientists. Space.com