Astronomer royal talks on physics, history
Wolfendale first straightened his tie and replied, "Certainly not." Then, perhaps sensing the questioner had the idea an American might be appointed, he added, "Unless you rejoin the empire."
Wolfendale's speech, the first in a series held in Salt Lake City under sponsorship of the University of Utah College of Science, was held in Clark Planetarium, located in The Gateway. With an easy, humorous manner, he talked about physics, astronomy and history, often making his audience chuckle.
He was astronomer royal from 1990-95, when he stepped down, as tradition dictates, at age 67. Presently he is professor of experimental physics at the the Royal Institution of Great Britain and a professor emeritus at Durham University.
He does not believe intelligent life is common in the galaxy. If it was, he said, "they would have colonized the galaxy. ... There's no evidence whatsoever there've ever been any visitors" from other planets.
If humankind survives until then and continues to advance technologically, it should be able to find a planet not threatened by this solar system's cataclysm, and move there. The same should apply to other civilizations. The galaxy has existed long enough for many such star disasters, and civilizations should have spread out everywhere by now — if they exist and became technologically superior.
Seth Jarvis, the planetarium's director, asked if he thought cosmic rays — which impact everyone constantly — could help drive evolution because of genetic changes they induce. Wolfendale had a single-word reply: "Yes."
He described the work of several of the astronomers royal starting with the first, John Flamsteed, appointed by King Charles II in 1675. The position was created to help navigation through better understanding of the positions of celestial objects.
"His standards were impressively high," Wolfendale said. Flamsteed "wanted everything right before be published." He published a set of observations, realized some weren't quite right, and went around buying up copies of the book. Because of that few copies exist of the first edition. The second, with better positions, was published 20 years later.
When Edmund Halley took over in 1720, he found Greenwich Observatory had no telescopes. "Why? Because Flamsteed's widow had taken all of them." Flamsteed had paid for the telescopes out of his own pocket, teaching to get enough money. Nobody knows where they are now.
Wolfendale discussed ways in which some astronomers royal tried to measure the mass of Earth. One, Sir George Airy, who held the post from 1835 to 1881, "said his result was accurate to one-third of a percent." But just to be sure, he was willing to go with two-thirds of 1 percent.
"It was 18 percent out," Wolfendale noted wryly.
Among his own accomplishments were important studies of neutrinos, gamma rays, cosmic rays and other astronomical phenomena. During his tenure as astronomer royal, Wolfendale noted, he delighted the media and annoyed the government by his campaigning for better financing of all science.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
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