A decade ago, Dr. Alan Townsend’s family received two unthinkable, catastrophic diagnoses: his 4-year-old daughter and his wife developed unrelated, life-threatening forms of brain cancer. As he witnessed his young daughter fight during the courageous final months of her mother’s life, Townsend, a lifelong scientist, was indelibly altered. He began to see scientific inquiry as more than a source of answers to a given problem, but also as a lifeboat, through scientific wonder. He found ways to bring meaning to his darkest period. He discusses his exploration into the meaning of science and wonder in his new memoir "This Ordinary Stardust: A Scientist's Path from Grief to Wonder."
