Meet the 2025 KISS Affiliates
William Feasey
Grad student in the Division of Engineering and Applied Science
Hometown: Oxford, UK
Date of this Interview: December 20, 2024
What do you research?
I am in the Hypersonics Group, GALCIT! I use the awesome T5 shock tunnel to produce high speed flows up to Mach 6 and 2500 degrees, recreating flight conditions experienced by rockets during atmospheric re-entry. My specific work is focussing on the role of entropy wave instability triggering transition from lamina to turbulent flow on the surface of blunt-body geometries.
Why does space inspire you?
Above the Kármán line (our first director in GALCIT!), countries cease to exists and the heavens above become a shared medium for all of humanity. It is opportunity for collective endeavour that spaces brings that most excites me. In this era, space is more accessible than ever and what we might produce and discover in the coming decades is enough to excite just about anyone who can see the stars twinkle or feel the sun's warmth.
If you could instantly travel to any point in the universe, where would you choose to go?
Probably the exact lunar altitude at which Apollo 8 came into view of Earth. Seeing Earthrise with my own two eyes would be special.
Where can you be found when you’re not conducting research?
Outside of the laboratory, William is a keen sportsman, leading Caltech's rugby team, whilst also enjoying football (soccer!) and embracing the SoCal sunshine as he works on his very rusty tennis game. He is also an avid reader, and has read probably any SciFi novel that even vaguely mentions space.
What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?
A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking. A book to make you feel so small yet appreciate the vastness of Human knowledge all at the same time.
Blink and you'll miss it! Hours of optics alignment for 1 millisecond of data.