Corey Tutt: How toilets in space hit scientific chord

Proud Kamilaroi man Corey Tutt had his eureka moment while discussing toilets in space with school students.

Corey Tutt, who works at the University of Sydney and founded Deadly Science

The Greek scholar Archimedes famously had his eureka moment while stepping out of a bath — but proud Kamilaroi man Corey Tutt had his while discussing toilets in space with school students.

“They were teenagers and I would talk about space stations and they would go no way there is a space station in the sky,” said Mr Tutt, who was working with the indigenous students in Sydney’s south as part of the Australian ­Indigenous Mentoring Experience program.

“The questions flowed on from there, like: how do you get oxygen up there? How do you go to the toilet? The kids reminded me a lot of myself when I was young. I alway­s asked questions like that, all the time.”

Their earnest interest inspired the 27-year-old to launch Deadly Science — a program that sends science books to schools in remote­ communities across Aust­ralia and connects indigenous people with mentors to encourage­ them to take up science­, technology, engineering, maths and medicine subjects.

He has sent almost 7000 science­ and animal books, along with more than 200 telescopes, to schools across Australia including to Tasmania, One Arm Point in the Kimberley in Western Australia and Arnhem Land.

“That means that there are 200 pairs of eyes looking up at the night sky that may not have ever got the chance to do that,” Mr Tutt said.

Mr Tutt, who has been nomin­ated for The Australian’s Aust­ralian of the Year Award, said it was equally important to recognise the amazing input indigenous knowledge could contribute to the sciences.

“It’s about people coming together — the science community and the Aboriginal community coming together to create change,” he said.

“Aboriginal people are Aust­ralia’s first scientists, with over 65,000 years of knowledge.”

Mr Tutt is a research assistant in the Matilda Centre at the ­University of Sydney, but hoped that one day he could make Deadly Science his full-time job.

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Mr Tutt said he was grateful for the support of some well-known people, including science populist Karl Kruszelnicki and English physicist Brian Cox.

“A lot of doors got shut in my face when I wanted to do Deadly Science on a bigger scale,” he said.

“To actually have these people investing time in me and Deadly Science is really special.”

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