What does it take to understand the Universe – from stars and galaxies to the cosmos itself? In astronomy, answers emerge only when data from many instruments and wavelengths can be combined. That is why data sharing and interoperability are not add-ons; they are the foundation of modern astrophysics.

As part of the BIPM’s Scientific Conference during the 150th Anniversary of the Metre Convention, Dr Mark Allen, Director of the Strasbourg Astronomical Data Center (CDS), spoke to the BIPM about how shared standards, trusted archives and FAIR-by-design infrastructures enable discovery at scale.
 

Watch our interview

Dr Allen explains why astronomy has long relied on open sharing – merging observations from X-ray, infrared, optical and radio telescopes – and how standards make those datasets truly comparable. He highlights the role of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance (IVOA), the importance of common formats and metadata, and why near-data “science platforms” are essential as petabyte-scale surveys come online.

[3 minutes]

Watch Dr Mark Allen's Keynote Address
 

In his presntation at #BIPM150’s “FAIR Digital Revolution” session, Dr Allen explores how astronomy implements FAIR principles through the Virtual Observatory: registries that make data findable, access protocols and data models that make it interoperable, and community services that drive reuse. He also introduces hierarchical, sphere-native approaches (HEALPix/HiPS) for indexing the sky and explains why machine-readable standards are the next frontier—so both humans and AI can work reliably with complex scientific data.

[30 minutes]