Fred Watson - Star-Craving Mad: Tales from a Travelling Astronomer

First published in 2013

Copyright Fred Watson 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.

Allen & Unwin
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Australia
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Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available
from the National Library of Australia
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ISBN 978 1 74237 376 8

Set in 11/13.5 pt Janson Text by Post Pre-press Group, Australia
Printed in Australia by McPhersons Printing Group

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To my marvellous modern family,
with love

CONTENTS

Years ago, I had a letter from an Italian gentleman, who was grateful for some publications I had sent him from the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. Written in less-thanperfect English, the letter ended with the memorable line Thank you for your remarkable disposability. While I think I know what he meant, Ive never been quite sure. Far less disposable than me, however, are the many people who have contributed to this book, and it is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to thank them.

None of the study tours described here would have been possible without the consummate expertise of my partner and manager, Marnie Ogg, so my first and biggest thank-you goes to her. Turning such trips into reality requires an army of tour companies, tour directors and local guides, as well as a deep understanding of the travel business, and Marnie has all that and more at her fingertips. It would be hard to overstate her contribution to this booknot the least being its title. Id also like to thank my fellow travellers on the tours for their enthusiastic participation and great company. I think Ive learned as much from them as they have from me.

Then there is the organisation that keeps me going, and it is a pleasure to acknowledge the support of the Australian Astronomical Observatory, a division of the Commonwealth Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education. Im especially indebted to the Director, Matthew Colless, for his constant encouragement, and helpful comments on some chapters of the book. Many thanks, too, to Neville Legg, General Manager, for always checking that my recreation leave is in order before I go on tourand much more. The friendly support of everyone on the observatorys staff, both in Sydney and at Siding Spring, is gratefully acknowledged.

The study tours themselves have benefited enormously from the generosity of colleagues the world over in lending their expertise during our visits. I thank Mattias Abrahamsson, Bob Argyle, Klaus Btzner, John Brown, Andrew Collier Cameron, Ivn Ghezzi, Ann-Christin Grenevall, Mark Hurn, Andrew Jacob, Lennart Jonasson, Quentin King, Michael Linden-Voenle, Nick Lomb, Andy Longmore, Peter Louwman, Karen Moran, Ulisse Munari, Pasi Nurmi, Nick Petford, Bertil Pettersson, Dominique Proust, Alan Pickup, Rami Rekola, John Sarkissian, Felix and Susanne Seiler, Urmas Sisask, Alessandro Siviero, Matthias Steinmetz, Toner Stevenson and Geoff Wyatt.

I owe a special debt to three distinguished St Andrews graduates: orsteinn Smundsson, who shared his personal recollections of Erwin Finlay Freundlich with me during an unforgettable visit to Iceland; our mutual friend, Bob Shobbrook, who put us into contact; and Edmund Robertson, of the superb MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive, for his insights into the Freundlich era at St Andrews. Its also a great pleasure to acknowledge Howard Sacre, of Nine Network Australia, for masterminding the documentary filming at the Large Hadron Collider. Likewise, my gratitude to my coconspirator on the show, Liam Bartlett.

The historical accounts in Star-Craving Mad draw on the published work of Peter Aughton, Andr Baranne, Jonas Bendiksen, J.A. Bennett, Geoffrey Blainey, Terrie F. Bloom, Randall C. Brooks, Allan Chapman, John R. Christianson, Tom Frame, Don Faulkner, the late Ben Gascoigne, Owen Gingerich, Ian Glass, W. Gratzner, Richard F. Harrison, John B. Hearnshaw, Michael Hoskin, Stefan Ilsemann, Lucy Jago, the late Henry C. King, Kenneth R. Lang, Franoise Launay, Juan Carlos Machicado Figueroa, J.P. McEvoy, John J. OConnor, the late M. Barlow Pepin, Katrina Proust, M.O. Robins, Andrew Robinson, the late Colin A. Ronan, Clive L.N. Ruggles, Alan D.C. Simpson, Engel Sluiter, the late Victor E. Thoren, A.J. Turner, Albert Van Helden, Arne Wennberg, Richard S. Westfall, Robert S. Westman and Rolf Willach. To these accomplished historians, I express my admiration and gratitude.

As regards the scientific content of the book, its hard to know where to start in acknowledging all the friends and colleagues who have provided input over the years. But Id particularly like to mention Peter Abrahams, Jeremy Bailey, Tim Beers, Brian Boyle, Russell Cannon, Brad Carter, Paul Cass, Victor Clube, Warrick Couch, Phil Diamond, Roger Davies, Peter Downes, Ken Freeman, Gerry Gilmore, Peter Gray, Malcolm Hartley, Joss Hawthorn, Rob Hollow, Andrew Hopkins, Stephen Hughes, Chris Impey, Hugh Jones, Dennis Kelly, David Kilkenny, John Lattanzio, Charley Lineweaver, Malcolm Longair, David Malin, John Mason, Rob McNaught, Patrick Moore, Ray Norris, Simon OToole, Quentin Parker, John Peacock, Mike Read, Ken Russell, Stuart Ryder, Brian Schmidt, Milorad Stupar, Chris Tinney, Pete Wheeler, Doug Whittet, Reg Wilson, Joe Wolfe and Tomaz Zwitter. I also acknowledge the role of my colleagues in the galactic archaeology community and the RAVE consortium in the work reported in Chapter 7.

Other friends who have enthusiastically supported my efforts in science outreach include John Budge, Donna Burton, Marcus Chown, Antony Cooke, Rob Dean, Rosalind Dubs, Ross and Helen Edwards, Ron Ellis and Susan Murray, Kristin Fiegert, Hans and Frances Gnodtke, Doug Gray, Derrick and Lorna Hartley, Laura Hartley, Ray and Libby Johnson, Phillipa Malin, Haritina Mogosanu, Jeff and Dianne Ogg, Matthew Ogg and Mirjam Beck, Robyn Owens, Sue Rawlings, William and Nina Reid, Victor and Sandra Richardson, Helen Sim, Peter Slezak, Dava Sobel, Michael Sollis and the Griffyn Ensemble, Colin and Anne Spencer, and Robyn Williams. Not to mention a lot of people at the ABC, Nine Network Australia and Network Ten.

Star-Craving Mad owes its origin to Ian Bowring of Allen & Unwin, but I took so long over the project that he retired in the meantime. Gosh, Ian, wheres your staying-power? Thankfully, the reins were taken over by Foong Ling Kong, and the book has been marvellously edited by Ann Lennox, Penny Mansley and Susan Jarvis. Grateful thanks to them all.