I really, really hate it when events don’t have an online presence.
I like broadcasting things. Not to be able to do so easily, particularly when it’s something interesting, is upsetting. I have fitlets of pique thereover. As it were.
Anyhoo, on to the point of this post: tomorrow, in Wellington, there’s going to be a lecture on radio astronomy, next gen telescopes and so forth. To make the obvious pun, it’s going to be astronomically cool.*
In the words of the email telling us about it:
The 2010 Hudson Lecturer is Dr. Melanie Johnson-Hollit of Victoria University of Wellington. The subject of the lecture will be “Exploring Astrophysics in the Radio Renaissance”
Across the world radio astronomers are gearing up for a plethora of new radio telescopes which will herald a vast increase in the sensitivity and allow new and ground-breaking research. At the end of this golden path is the billion-dollar Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, but even before we reach the SKA there will be much exciting new science to be done. In this Hudson lecture I will present an overview of radio astronomy and discuss plans for next generation telescopes and what exceptional science will be produced, by way of example I will focus on research into galaxy clusters - the largest gravitationally bound objects in the Universe.
The Hudson Lecture is RSNZ Wellington Branch’s premier annual lecture. The Hudson Lecturer is awarded in recognition of the Lecturers effort in Science or the promotion of Science and Technology.
It honours George Vernon Hudson (1867 - 1946) who was a distinguished amateur naturalist and scientist. An original Fellow of what is now the Royal Society of New Zealand, he was on its Council from 1923-46. Hudson was President of this branch (then the Wellington Philosophical Society)
in 1900-01 and 1911-12.
I intend to attend. And gape in awe, fascination and general starry-eyed** happiness. Anyone else who enjoys this kind thing should come too!
To the RSNZ Wellington guys - any way we can help you get your website updated a little?
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* Yes, I just smacked myself upside the head for that one.
** Again, sorry.