Restaurant Petit Poisson Herne Bay Kent CT6 UK

Once again I had a lovely lunch at restaurant Le Petit Poisson in Herne Bay. It's on the Esplanade, right by the pier, in a historic building that was once the ticket office for the pier. Menu is quite small, and almost entirely fish, mostly source locally and fresh as can be. The cooking style is imaginative, with excellent blends of taste and texture. We had wild sea trout, cod, and dover sole, all most delicious. There are some interesting touches, such as the signature savoury rhubarb. Moules seem always to be available, plus the local rock oysters. Deserts are home made, with a good selection of sorbet and ice cream. The wine list is just great for lunch or dinner beside the seaside. My favourite is Chapel Down Flint Dry, from Kent. I would say Petit Poisson is approaching the best restaurants just along the coast at Whitstable, and is set to exceeed when extended to provide more covers

Queen Mary 2 astronomy lectures

The blurb for our astronomy presentations on Queen Mary 2 is here: http://bit.ly/oTKRX

Collectible astronomy books and classics

I have started to form a small collection of collectible and classic books in astronomy. I am interested in boosting this collection. I am in the market to buy astronomy books first editions hardcover signed by author or with an interesting association. On my collect list I have Arthur Clarke, Patrick Moore, Fred Hoyle, Mary Somerville, Eddington, Hubble, Herschel, Agnes Clerke,Percival Lowell, Martin Ryle, Martin Rees, Stephen Hawking, etc If you have something that is taking up space in the attic and you want to convert to cash then do be in touch. I can pay in any major currency, and I pay shipping costs. But please note that I do not collect damaged books.

Simon
sam11@cam.ac.uk
http://www.totalastronomy.com

Georges Lemaître, Big Bang, Fireworks universe

Today's neglected pioneer is Georges Lemaître, who is the most famous alumnus of my College (St Edmund's College, Cambridge). He interpreted Hubble's discovery of the expansion of the universe correctly. As Marcia Bartusiak says in her book The Day we Found the Universe (Pantheon 2009) "Lemaître was the first to say directly that the galaxies are fleeing from us because spacetime at each and every point throughout the cosmos is continually stretching." Crucially. Lemaître did not say the galaxies are fleeing from us. Rather, as Bartusiak puts it, the galaxies embedded in spacetime are participating in a free ride

Stay tuned for more blogs on great astronomers who have been neglected by the textbook writers. Tomorrow I'll write of Robert Grosseteste and the medieval Big Bang universe

Simon
http://www.totalastronomy.com

Vesto Slipher, discovered expansion of the universe

As a historian of astronomy, I have started to take an interest in the achievements of astronomers who have been neglected by popular science writers and authors of astronomy textbooks. One such is Vesto Slipher, of the Lowell Observatory. Hired to do planetary science, he became a pioneer in extragalactic optical spectroscopy, working under very difficult conditions. He developed instrumentation and technique. It was Vesto Slipher, NOT Edwin Hubble, who discovered the recession of the galaxies. Marcia Bartusiak is the expert on Vesto Slipher. Her book, The Day we Found the Universe (1 January 1925) is superb in every way.

Stay tuned for some more neglected figures.

Simon
http://www.totalastronomy.com

Digne-les-Bains

Tomorrow (10 August 2009) we set off from Nice by road for Digne-les-Baines and Sisteron in the Hauts Alpes de Provence. This is the first sector of a four day journey back to Cambridge. Digne is noteworthy to astronomers because in 1631, he became the first person to observe the transit of a planet across the Sun, viewing the transit of Mercury that Kepler had predicted.

Wine - Seigneurie d'Arse

My son-in-law just gave me, for a bit of a laugh, a wine from Fitou (Languedoc-Rousillon) that rejoices in the name Seigneurie d'Arse. That's the name of the chateau. It's made at the chateau, and the 2005 vintage got a silver medal at Macon in 2007. Modestly priced at €6 in Leclerc supermarket. I doubt that you can buy it outside south west France. It would make an amusing item on a menu for a formal dinner