'Qualified' Astrophysicist!

wrote:

so I was informed correctly. Starting a PhD and then being 'invited to
leave' after a year does not make one a qualified astrophysicist or a
former professional astronomer, and I note there are no research papers
in evidence.

You didn't look very hard then did you?
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...7ffe fc523349
(plus a load of BAA journal artcles also indexed on ADS)

What a mean spirited and gratuitous personal attack on a successful
populariser of astronomy and science. I am no great fan of Heather
Couper's TV style but she has done a lot for astronomy through the BAA
and the IAU.

She has a qualification in astrophysics, but not a doctorate - otherwise
she would be introduced as Dr. - your objection is bogus.

I still say this is deliberately misleading to a radio 4
audience.

Well in that case write to BBC Feedback. Be sure to include your full
name and address so that her lawyers can get in touch.

NASA do not share your myopic world view:

http://nai.arc.nasa.gov/library/down...FG_members.doc

And to make a point of just how rare professional women astrophysicists
are even now - apart from Jocelyn Bell-Burnell can you name one other
woman astrophysicist working today?
(this is a question for the OP and not for others to answer)

I will claim Julia Riley of MRAO Cambridge, UK who devised the
Fanaroff-Riley classification for radio galaxies.

Regards,
Martin Brown

"Martin Brown" wrote in message
...
wrote:

She has a qualification in astrophysics, but not a doctorate - otherwise
she would be introduced as Dr. - your objection is bogus.


I think she has honourary Doctorates in Science and Lit. so I suppose she
could claim the Dr. title if she so wished.

I still say this is deliberately misleading to a radio 4
audience.

Well in that case write to BBC Feedback. Be sure to include your full name
and address so that her lawyers can get in touch.


As in, not trying to hide behind Google Usenet and Hotmail first bastion of
the paranoid. Especially when most ISPs must surely provide both. ;o)

Cheers,
Jim

Am I the only one who is getting heartily sick of the 'Tall Poppy
Syndrome' that is plagueing this country?

Every famous/moderately famous/slighty less than unknown, person that
dares to put their head above the parapet is villified. PM and HC have
done a vast amount between them to increase the profile of astronomy in
the public, and deserve better than this.

In my view PM is by far the better communicator, but HC probably knows
far more about astrophysics. I have heard a large number of
'qualified' astrophysicists in recent years. They have varied between
the very good (could have their own show on TV) to the worse than
appalling (this one of the best known such researchers in the country).
On almost every occasion, HC would be the better choice by far for a
radio programme. At the level of knowledge required, almost everyone
here is sufficiently 'qualified'. Whether they are good enough
communicators is a moot point.

Roger

Why couldn't "peterlondon" @ hotmail.whatever stand up 30 posts ago up
and say "I'm new to astronomy but I hate the bitch" and we could all
get on with our lives. yawn

But when somebody posts something interesting about real astronomy
which they've done under a real sky at their own expense in their own
time then nobody has anything to say! Wot's that all about then? :-(

Chris.B

"Chris.B" wrote in message
oups.com...
Why couldn't "peterlondon" @ hotmail.whatever stand up 30 posts ago up
and say "I'm new to astronomy but I hate the bitch" and we could all
get on with our lives. yawn

But when somebody posts something interesting about real astronomy
which they've done under a real sky at their own expense in their own
time then nobody has anything to say! Wot's that all about then? :-(

Chris.B


Human nature I guess, we all like a good debate and voice opinions.

wrote:

She said she was a 'qualified
astrophysicist.' Is this so? What qulifications?

I can say without qualification that I am not an astrophysicist.

That makes me an astrophysicist with qualification. (And brain
surgeon, rocket scientist, nobel prizewinner and general all round
genius of a Renaissance man. I like this game.)

--
Martin Frey
http://www.hadastro.org.uk
N 51 02 E 0 47

Let's not overdo it Martin!

BTW: NASA wants some advice on Shuttle tank insulation.
MI5 want you to do some corrective surgery on some nutty terrorists.
The G8 want your thoughts on saving the world.
And your dinner is ready. ;-)

Chris.B