Father Richard D’Souza, a Goa-born priest serving at the Vatican Observatory, uses advanced spectroscopy to decode star-formation histories billions of years old, a profile published Friday details.
His research compares distant galaxy spectra with Milky Way globular clusters to test models of dark-matter distribution.
The observatory pairs religious sponsorship with peer-reviewed astronomy, funding telescopes in Arizona and archival analysis in Rome.
D’Souza mentors Indian graduate students remotely, encouraging South Asian participation in astrophysics despite limited local telescope access.
Colleagues credit his work on galactic cannibalism—smaller galaxies merging into larger halos—with refining simulation inputs used by international collaborations.
He divides time between pastoral duties in Goa and research semesters at Castel Gandolfo headquarters overlooking Lake Albano.
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Sources:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/at-vatican-observatory-goa-priest-decoding-cosmic-past/articleshow/125810143.cms