When Parkes scientist John Sarkissian was in Year 9 in Sydney, he spent many a maths lesson looking at a painting of the Parkes Radio Telescope on the cover of his maths textbook and dreaming of working there.
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“While the teacher was talking about equations, I was daydreaming of one day working at Parkes,” John laughed.
“It was literally a daydream come true, so it is extremely satisfying for me to be here.”
And it’s no wonder, after 20 years working as an operations scientist at the Dish, that one of John’s proudest moments came this year when he was named on the Queen’s Birthday Honours List to receive an OAM (Order of Australia Medal).
On September 8 – with his wife Anahid and children Markarid, Mihran and Lucin in the audience – John was presented his medal, recognising his services to astronomy, during a ceremony presided by the NSW Governor David Hurley at Sydney Government House.
The ceremony was one of three, held over three days, from Wednesday to Friday.
Following John’s investiture on the Thursday, the 40 or so recipients gathered in the gardens for refreshments and to mingle.
John described the occasion as a bit nerve-racking.
“I’ve never done anything like this before, I had no idea what it was going to be like...it’s a big occasion,” he said.
“I was chatting with other recipients and they were in the same boat.”
Coincidentally John’s cousin from Sydney also received an OAM, his ceremony taking place the day prior.
John said he met some really interesting people at the ceremony.
“There was one many who received a bravery award where he saved a shark attack victim and performed CPR.
“There were people like that who have done amazing things and all I’ve done is astronomy,” a modest John said.
But he added astronomy is something he had been obsessed with all of his life.
“I used to tell my dad I’ll sweep the streets because I don’t want to do anything else,” John laughed.
“And he’d say you need to broaden your options, but ‘I don’t want any other options dad’.”
John’s biggest passion on the job is the problem solving and doing it at a world-class facility like the CSIRO Parkes Telescope.
He’s also immensely enjoyed watching the Central West Astronomical Society and the nationally renowned Astrofest develop and succeed.
“And I enjoy interacting with astronomers from all over the world and helping them do world-class science, I enjoy participating in space missions and helping track spacecraft for NASA,” he said.
“I love that Parkes has so many options, that’s why I had no problems throwing my hat into the ring.”
