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       Amid the roilings of the Milky Way, immense pockets of gas coalesce
       into clouds where stars are born. In this process, there is a hidden
       hand at play: magnetism.
        
       "There's this fantastic quote: You can measure a man's ignorance by
       the strength of his magnetic field," said Susan Clark, an
       astrophysicist at Stanford University. "In other words, when we have a
       piece of a problem historically in astrophysics that we don't fully
       understand, just blame the magnetic field. Just wave our hands and
       say, 'Ah! The magnetic field!'"
        
       Exactly how this fundamental force helps sculpt our galaxy has long
       eluded scientists, largely because measuring the galactic magnetic
       field is a considerable challenge. Unable to detect it directly,
       astronomers tease out clues by studying dust that has been aligned by
       the magnetic field and the light that passes through this dust.
        
       While much remains unknown, new tools and methods are bringing us
       closer to perceiving the influence of magnetism on the evolution of
       stars and galaxies, and Clark is one of the scientists spearheading
       this effort. As the leader of the Cosmic Magnetism and Interstellar
       Physics group at Stanford, she uses a combination of novel
       observational techniques, simulations and theory to unravel the
       puzzles of galactic magnetism. This year, she was awarded the Sloan
       Research Fellowship for "outstanding early-career faculty who have the
       potential to revolutionize their fields of study."
        
       "We are trying to not have it be a measure of our ignorance, but
       really understand the detailed physics of how the magnetic field
       affects things," Clark said.
        
       _Quanta_ recently caught up with Clark at a conference in Santa
       Barbara, California, to learn more about her progress in probing the
       unseen forces of the galaxy. The interview has been condensed and
       edited for clarity. **  
       **
        
        
        
        
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