Sir Patrick Moore died earlier today. At 89 he'd had a good innings, as they say.
Moore, like many astronomers, was an eccentric - in his case, it took the form of strange beliefs about the forrins, the women and the metric measurement system - but I've begun to believe that society subtly but firmly canalizes famous scientists into eccentricity.
As a kid I used to watch Moore on The Sky At Night with my dad, who was a member of the British Interplanetary Society. I can't claim that he changed my life in a fundamental way, but like all great broadcasters, he certainly had an effect. I wish there were more of them around today.
2 comments:
Hi Sis
The article in the Gwandiarn by Brian May was very good and I did not know that Patrick Moore gave away most of his wealth sponsoring people through higher education and University, or that his hatred of Germans and others of a foreign ilk was because his girlfriend was killed by a German bomb while she was driving an ambulance. Strange what you find out about people only after they die!!
Bruv
Hi Sis
Mind you watching the last couple of episodes of Sky at Night, either he was already dead and they had propped him up in his easy chair or he was asleep, as he never spoke a word for the last 20 minutes!!!!
Bruv
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