SYNERGY - Juneteenth 2022

James Albury

From Planetarium To The Sky Above Us

Story By: Lanre-Peter Elufisan

A museum where you find images of stars, planets, and constellations projected for public entertainment or education. They build it primarily for presenting shows about astronomy and the night sky. Few people have had the privilege of visiting a planetarium, but those who have been there can speak of its beautiful scenes and the fascinating knowledge that you find there. James C. Albury is one of those people. A science communicator par excellence. James was born in Denver, Colorado, before his parents moved to Miami, Florida, where he grew up. His parents were fond of taking him and his siblings to tourist attractions like the zoo, aquarium, and marine park, so one day, they took him to the planetarium when he was six. It was so captivating that they visited the planetarium seasonally.

Later on, James moved to Gainesville to study at the University of Florida (UF). He narrated how the planetarium experience influenced him to switch his major from aerospace engineering to astronomy and physics. In 1992, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Astronomy and pursued post-baccalaureate studies in astronomy.

After graduation, he worked at UF in the office of academic technology, first as a lab advisor, and later promoted to the position of computer support analyst. While working at the UF, he met his wife Kandra. “While my wife was searching for a job, she saw a job posting for the planetarium project coordinator on Indeed. I looked at the job description and saw that I had done it all, so I applied, went for an interview, and was hired in October 2009. Since then, I have been the Santa Fe Kika Silva Pla Planetarium Director.

James Albury has produced many planetarium shows in this role, and he is still burning with fire for astronomy. On his most outstanding achievements, James talked about a scientific panel that al- lowed him to meet with Neil Degrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. “I was the moderator of that panel at a Phi Theta Kappa convention. I got to moderate the event, but I also got to talk to Degrasse Tyson,” he said.

Being at the peak of a career you love dearly is a blessing that James does not take for granted. He was thankful for his dad’s inspiration and immensely grateful to Jack Horkheimer. Jack’s show was the world’s only weekly television program on naked-eye astronomy then. That five-minute program, which aired on his local PBS station when he was young, flamed his passion.

When Jack passed away in 2010, the producers needed new hosts. So Albury pitched himself, and he became the show’s cohost with Dean Regas from October 2011 to November 2019. In February 2020, he launched his astronomy series on YouTube titled “The Sky Above Us.” (http:// www.theskyaboveus.org). On his show, he uses each episode to give viewers a sneak-peek into celestial events, planets, and constellations visible in the sky to tell what will happen during the coming weeks.

Aside from astronomy, Mr. Albury loves his wife and his children. In fact, despite having achieved a lot, he believes his most significant achievement is raising his children to be what they are. He has two daughters, Drea and Kanesha, and an eleven-year-old son named Bryce.