2025-07-24 –, Main Room 4
Julia's usage of astronomy has increased in the last decade. This talk will discuss my experience writing a larger astronomy code, Comrade.jl, and building the EHTJulia organization. I'll detail my experience writing code in Julia, contrasting it to my past experiences with C++ and Python astronomy software. Finally, given that astronomy software is built upon early career scientists, I'll also discuss the experience of teaching students how to use Julia and areas of improvement.
As Julia's use case in astronomy is increasing, it is essential to review successes and areas of improvement in the language. Specifically, I will discuss my experience in writing a rather large code, Comrade as well as the larger EHTJulia ecosystem that is poised to become the software stack for the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) and future projects like the Black Hole Explorer (BHEX). The talk will discuss where Julia has enabled breakthrough science, including the first analysis of Sgr A, images of M87 in 2018, and ongoing EHT analyses. I'll also discuss my experience convincing a larger astronomy organization to use Julia and teaching early career scientists how to use and contribute to this software.
BHEX Postdoctoral Fellow at Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian
Co-Lead of the EHTJulia ecosystem
Lead of the Comrade software