Eulogy The legacy of Carolina Odman

During the day, I sometimes put a couple of drops of Living Nature Manuka oil, which seems to help. After filling up the tank and washing the windows, I handed over my credit card to the attendant, and he saw the state of my hands. ” He asked, half out of shock, half out of concern. “No,” I explained, “it’s a side effect of chemotherapy, I have cancer.” Immediately, he turned into the most caring kind person. “Oh no, thats terrible, I hope you are OK. There was another man who came here a few days ago and he was also on his way home from chemo.” We had a little chat, one of those where a random someone’s empathy warms your heart and sets the mood for the day.

How it affects every day life

That’s just one of the things sort of in my control. Sure, it sucks to not be able to live the full range of light, temperature, spice, sun, etc. But that does not mean that my world is smaller, rather the opposite.

Someone who cares deeply about other people’s suffering and forged her own way of helping. Someone who was truly at home and at peace everywhere, but had a special love for South Africa. Someone who loved her family fiercely, and wanted to help make a better world for her two sons, along with Kevin.

Her singing was so amazing that the band offered her a job on the spot. She declined out of respect for the original artist, else she would have been a rockstar as well! I am sure she has told almost each one of us at some point that we were a ‘superstar’ or a ‘rockstar’ when we did something she really liked.

Talking Science in Indigenous Languages

She was at home while riding to a village in India on the back of a motorcycle holding the Earth ball for an astronomy workshop. She was at home dealing with the exigencies of carrying a telescope into Gaza to conduct a UNAWE program with Palestinian children. Carolina was unbelievably talented at everything she was interested in. And she was interested in almost everything.

She has shown that to be true many times over. She was also active in the African Astronomical Society and in building capacity towards the IAU General Assembly in 2024. Her love for South Africa and its people had made CaroLune.org it obvious that she and her partner Kevin Govender would eventually come together in this country rather than any other in the world. George Miley mentions that ‘I am proud that she met Kevin at a Universe Awareness Workshop in Leiden and I regard their union as one of the most important achievements of the programme.”  I think we can all agree.

My grip is crazy light so I keep dropping things. Other things, I have no more fingerprints at all (they would come back if I stopped the treatment) and weird deep new lines in my fingers that feel like I’m bending cardboard under my skin. And I have a really good quality of life. To get to good temperatures when it’s scorching hot, I go to air conditioned places like the gym or the mall; there is always a new book that I’d love to dig into.

She always managed to elevate her interest into something higher, something better than what was imagined before – something that brought together technology, development, and humanity (which was her secret talent). Carolina then joined the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland for a MSc degree in Physics Engineering. While at EPFL, she joined the Equal Opportunity Office to promote gender equality in scientific careers. At that time, she was interviewed for the ‘Women’s career’ magazine and said “I would like to practise a profession where the human aspect takes precedence over pure theory”. Though true, we know that this statement hides an ocean of talents.

She once saw a tweet from a student who needed assistance to go to Germany and she moved mountains to make sure that the woman student from a rural community could reach her dreams. But we know that she did a lot more, quietly, and without fanfare. She was a founding member of the African Network for Women in Astronomy and a serving member of its board. Their condolence message reads “She is the embodiment of Nelson Mandela’s well known phrase ‘It always seems impossible until it’s done!

Nature is full of small wonders like this, and moments like these remind me of the magic in everyday surroundings. This small, fleeting rainbow may not have been the vibrant spectacle we see after a rainstorm, but it was just as inspiring, a reminder of the beauty found in the most unexpected places. Most academics excel at their area of expertise, but not everyone knows how to publicise themselves. I have put together a small website that hopefully will help academics create a simple webpage to showcase their work in all its diversity – research, teaching, supervising, outreach, and more.