Fred Hoyle, a life in science

My biography of the astronomer Fred Hoyle, a life in science, first published in 2005, is being re-issued in February 2011, in paperback, published worldwide by Cambridge University Press. There is an amazon.co.uk page for this book and there are two customer reviews

In this blog I will now run extracts from the book.

The extract here is from the first chapter:
On 19 August 1972, Fred Hoyle sat in his office at the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge for the last time. His summer had been busy. A record number of academic visitors had come to the Institute to benefit from summer conferences, collaborations, lectures and discussions. He had fretted to make sure the Institute would be financed securely for the next five years. Just three weeks earlier, the Institute of Astronomy had been born through a merger of two astronomy departments, after the university had decided to join the historic Observatories established in 1823 with the pioneering Institute of Theoretical Astronomy founded by Hoyle in 1965. Hoyle had been the head of Theoretical Astronomy for seven years, but now he had a new boss, because the university had not chosen him as the Director of the combined Institute.
For decades Hoyle had been the best-known astrophysicist in Britain. His output of technical papers was prodigious. But he never confined himself to the ivory towers of academia. A gifted populariser, he could make the most profound intellectual puzzles into entertaining radio talks and lucid television programmes. Fred Hoyle’s broadcasts and books influenced many of us who were drawn into astronomy. Most years he wrote a book, sometimes two. The sweep of his accomplishment as a writer covered a spectrum from popular books to technical monographs. Imaginative ideas that were too speculative for journal papers and serious books were cleverly developed to be aired in the guise of science fiction.
Despite his fame and standing, matters in Cambridge had somehow unravelled in the past year so that, as Hoyle put it, ‘now I really did want to be done with it’.
Even when the tea drinkers had drifted back to their offices, Hoyle still felt unable to make a break for it, not wishing to endure the embarrassment of further handshakes, eye contact or best wishes. By early evening the Institute building was finally empty. The time to depart had come. He would head straight for the main door and be done with the Institute for ever. He took a last look round the office and, as an afterthought, picked up the inky blotter on the desk as a memento. He seldom used ballpoint pens, always choosing to write confidently with a fountain pen and rarely revising manuscript drafts. Just as he left the office, which was at the end of a long corridor and some distance from the front door, he changed his mind about bolting for the exit. Instead he took a nostalgic tour of the building, his pride and joy. Though founded by him, funded by his pleas for cash, and populated by his handpicked team of research astronomers, it welcomed his presence no longer.

Biography Fred Hoyle cosmologist, astronomer, controversialist

My 2005 biography of astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle (1915 - 2001) is to be issued by Cambridge University Press in paperback early in 2011. Title is Fred Hoyle, a life in science.

I See the Moon on 7 October 2010

An engaging astronomy book for youngest readers by Jacqueline Mitton is published in the UK 7 October 2010 (and is available worldwide from amazon). From the author of bestseller The Zoo in the Sky this new book approaches observing the Moon through the eyes of animals that children love. Polar Bear sees a Ring Around the Moon, Beaver sees the orange Moon in lunar eclipse, Tiger watched the crescent Moon. What's the Moon like tonight. Turn the pages with a very young star struck child to see the enchanting story of the Moon's phases. Find more here and follow the links on that page.

I See the Moon, astronomy for young readers

Jacqueline Mitton's latest illustrated book for youngest readers is published October 7 2010. "I see the Moon" is a wonderful book in which the child sees the Moon through the eyes of several animals: Owl, Polar Bear, Koala, Tiger, Fox, and so on.

What is the Moon like tonight? Turn the pages of this book to see the many enchanting phases - from a horned crescent to the plump faced Man in the Moon, from the icy crystal ring around the Moon to the dark orange eclipse - watched by Owl, Beaver, Koala, and Spider Monkey

Brief science notes make this a perfect introduction to the night sky for very young readers

USA:
http://www.amazon.com/I-See-Moon-Jacqueline-Mitton/dp/1845076338/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281371593&sr=8-1

UK: http://bit.ly/cuXrAZ

Queen Mary 2 astronomy lectures

I am all aboard Queen Mary 2 October 19 - October 25 2010 as Royal Astronomical Society guest lecturer on astronomy for Cunard's enrichment programme

Stephen Hawking, God, philosophy,science and religion

My Cambridge colleague Stephen Hawking is front page news with his comment that the originof the universe does not require a supernatural creator. This is all part of a marketing push by the publisher of his latest book,and follows a trend set by Richard Dawkins, Steven Weinberg, and Pierre-Simon Laplace (Je n'avais pas besoin de cette hypothèse-là.' "I had no need of that hypothesis.")

But has Stephen said anything new? I have not read the book, but the news coverage fails to mention that the anthropic principle, for example, was first put forward by one of Hawking's Cambridge colleagues about 30 years ago. There's nothing remotely new in the observation that the grand total energy content of the universe can be zero. In the late 1920s the Cambridge astrophysicist Eddington had a model in which a primeval atom is static and unchanging for eons until suddenly bursting into life explosively. So the application of quantum ideas to cosmology has along and respectable history.

I'm curious about Stephen's attack on philosophers. Perhaps modern philosophers have become too introverted for his taste. Cosmology was started 2500 years ago by philosopher-geometers who broke away from the magical philosophy of Egypt and Mesopotamia

You can read my take on the recent history of cosmology at Cambridge in my biography of Fred Hoyle, the astronomer who rjected the Big Bang. http://bit.ly/6rvVr

There's a .ppt slide show on Hoyle on this site: http://bit.ly.TOTast

Panspermia in the International Journal of Astrobiology

Folks we have a hot paper! Panspermia, comets, Chandra Wickramasinghe (Cardiff)

It is in the news

panspermia is big news