Archive for December, 2024

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2024 in Retrospect

Posted in Barcelona, Biographical, Cardiff, Maynooth with tags , , , , , on December 31, 2024 by telescoper 
What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from.

T. S. Eliot, from Little Gidding, the last of the Four Quartets.

I wasn’t really planning on posting a retrospective of the year 2024, but the rain is pouring down outside so I’ve decided to use up a bit of time before going out in the hope that the rain stops.

The past year has been very busy with significant life events. One particular highlight has to be a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime trip to Sydney in February. I don’t know if I’ll ever get the chance to visit Australia again, but if I do I’ll take it! Shortly after returning from that trip I went back to Barcelona until the summer, leaving briefly for visits to Rome (Euclid Consortium Meeting), Valencia (Department Colloquium), Newcastle (to do a PhD examination) and Oxford (to give the inaugural Pride talk at the Department of Physics).

Unfortunately, at that point my laptop gave up the ghost so I had to come back to Maynooth a little earlier than planned to salvage what was on it and get a new one. And so ended my sabbatical. I’d like to take the opportunity again to thank everyone at the Universities of Barcelona and Sydney for making me feel so welcome and, of course, to Maynooth for granting me a full-year sabbatical in the first place.

As well as giving me some time for my own research, the year saw significant progress with the Open Journal of Astrophysics, both in terms of numbers of papers published (120 in 2024) but also some much-needed work on automation and an increase in the size of the Editorial Board. It’s hard to predict what will happen in 2025, but I’m glad that a significant number of members of the astrophysics community seem to be regarding OJAp as a viable avenue for communicating their results.

I will also mention – for those that care – that the Open Journal of Astrophysics is now listed in Scopus, but all the numbers they have published about the journal are inaccurate. I have spent months trying to get them to correct the figures but, although they have admitted errors, they have failed to do so. My next step will be to take legal action against Scopus (which is based in The Netherlands) under the Dutch Civil Code.

The big event workwise at Maynooth was the merger of the Departments of Theoretical Physics and Experimental Physics into a single Department of Physics. So far this has been largely paper exercise. What will result from it in the long term remains to be seen. I was given two new modules to teach last Semester and have another new one next Semester (as well as one I’ve done before). Although this made for a heavy workload, it wasn’t as bad as what happened after the only other sabbatical I’ve had in my career. I got a one Semester sabbatical when I was at Nottingham, but the Department simply moved my first-semester teaching to the second semester in addition to what had already been allocated for the second, so I had a double teaching load when I got back!

There has been a significant change in my personal circumstances too. During 2024 I finally completed the sale of my former home in Pontcanna, Cardiff. I had intended to do this years ago, but the pandemic and subsequent workload issues made it difficult to travel and sort this matter out. In the meantime bought my house in Maynooth with a mortage so I owned two properties, one of which was empty for much of the time. After much stopping and starting, and being badly let down by more than one prospective buyer, the Cardiff house is now sold. I now feel much less delocalised. I also felt very rich when the proceeds hit my bank account, but only briefly. I used a big chunk to pay off my mortgage and put the rest into fixed-term investments for retirement.

Anyway, writing about Sydney reminded me that there are parts of the world in which it is 2025 already, so let me end with a “Happy New Year” and a few interesting numerological facts about the number 2025:

P.S. It’s still raining.

P.P.S. Athbhliain faoi shéan agus faoi mhaise daoibh! 

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Jimmy Carter in Newcastle (1977)

Posted in Biographical, History, R.I.P., Television with tags , , , on December 30, 2024 by telescoper

The news of the death at the age of 100 of former US President Jimmy Carter reminded me of a day way back when I was still at school. It was Friday, May 6th, 1977 and I was at the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. I remember that morning it was announced at Assembly that Carter would be visiting the city and giving a speech outside the Civic Centre, which was less than 10 minutes’ walk from the School. I think some senior boys were allowed to go an see him, but as a mere third-former I went to a class and the occasion largely passed me by.

One thing I do remember is a classmate after Assembly saying “Thank God he didn’t visit Sunderland instead…” – Carter visited Newcastle on his way to Washington (the ancestral home of George Washington), which is nearer to Sunderland than Newcastle. I suppose the reason was that Newcastle has an airport, whereas Sunderland hasn’t.

The other thing I remember was the TV coverage on Look North when I got home, which showed the start of President Carter’s speech with his famous “Howay the Lads!”

R.I.P. Jimmy Carter (1924-2024)

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Taking a stand against Musk (or not)

Posted in Maynooth, Politics with tags , , , , , , on December 29, 2024 by telescoper

This morning I saw an announcement (dated 19th December 2024) that the Université Paris-Saclay has, to its credit, ceased its activity on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and now known as Elon Musk’s personal mouthpiece. I have written about why individuals and institutions should leave Twitter several times before, e.g. here.

According to the Saclay announcement:

It comes following changes to the platform’s content policy, which is no longer in compliance with the European Union’s Code of Practice on Disinformation, making the platform incompatible with the universal values that the university and its community share.

Bravo!

But why are so many other universities still supporting Twitter/X? I suppose it may be because many of them have specifically employed staff to broadcast news about themselves on this platform and without it they’d have nothing to do. That’s not a very good argument, in my opinion. I’m sure other bullshit jobs can be found. Another possibility, of course, is that they just don’t care. Given the prevalence of toxic management in higher education these days, this may well be the real reason. Whatever the motivation I find it deeply shaming to be working for an institution that is still happy to tout for trade in a neo-Nazi chatroom.

I very much doubt my own institution’s management will take the correct ethical course. The Maynooth University leadership doesn’t even follow the institution’s own Statutes, so I doubt that a mere EU Code of Conduct will have any influence on them. I do hope, however, the decision by the mega-University Saclay – one of the world’s top research institutions may influence others to do the right thing. As well all known, University “leadership” these days largely involves copying what others do.

It’s not only universities, and not only via Xitter, that institutions are being degraded by their association with Elon Musk. The venerable Royal Society still counts him as a Fellow, despite his overtly antiscientific dissemination of false information and his support for far-right extremism. I don’t know how Musk was elected an FRS in 2018, perhaps before the worst of his character became widely known, but the fact that he remains a Fellow tarnishes the reputation of that organization.

P.S. I had the opportunity to visit Saclay about 13 months ago.

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New Publication at the Open Journal of Astrophysics

Posted in OJAp Papers, Open Access, The Universe and Stuff with tags , , , , , on December 28, 2024 by telescoper

I wasn’t planning to do the usual weekly update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics this morning as I thought we wouldn’t publish any more papers between last week’s update and the Christmas break. However, one final version did hit the arXiv on Christmas Eve so I decided to publish it straight away. This brings the total for Volume 7 (2024) to 120 – a neat average of ten a month – and the overall total to 235.

Here’s a table showing the sequence of papers published over the last six years and the series formed from the aforementioned sequence:

Year201920202021202220232024
Papers1215171750120
Total16314865115235

Anyway, the new paper is “Galaxy evolution in the post-merger regime. II – Post-merger quenching peaks within 500 Myr of coalescence” by Sara Ellison (U. Victoria, Canada), Leonardo Ferreira (U. Victoria), Vivienne Wild, (St Andrews, UK), Scott Wilkinson (U. Victoria), Kate Rowlands, (STScI, USA) & David R. Patton (Trent U., Canada). It was published on 24th December 2024 in the folder marked Astrophysics of Galaxies. It comprises an investigation of the possibility that quenching of star formation is a consequence of galaxy-galaxy interactions and mergers. The overlay is here:

You can find the officially accepted version on arXiv here.

Well, that definitely concludes the updates for 2024. I’ll be back on January 4th with the first update of 2025.

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An Cailín Ciúin 

Posted in Film, Irish Language, Television with tags , on December 27, 2024 by telescoper

Now that the Christmas dinner and follow-up leftovers are done, I thought I’d just mention a very beautiful film I watched on the TV late on Christmas Day – An Cailín Ciúin (in English: The Quiet Girl). I was quite surprised to see it scheduled then, but TG4 is known for bold and imaginative programming.

It’s (mostly) in the Irish language, but don’t let that put you off; there are subtitles. It’s gentle, poignant and wonderfully observed. A little gem, in fact. I’d encourage you to see it if you can. It’s a fine film all round, but I can’t resist pointing out Catherine Clinch in the central role of Cáit, the quiet girl herself. She had never acted in front of a camera before this film, which makes her subtly expressiven performance all the more remarkable.

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Donate to Wikipedia!

Posted in Biographical with tags , on December 26, 2024 by telescoper

It seems that Donald Trump’s owner, Elon Musk, does not approve of Wikipedia. Apparently he particularly dislikes the fact that the organizers are dedicated to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion whereas white supremacists like Musk prefer prefer Monotony, Unfairness and Exclusion of everyone who is not like them. I would imagine if he were in charge it would turn into another Conservapedia. Anything that Musk hates has to be worth supporting so today I made a donation to Wikipedia, which is a non-profit organization.

I don’t remember the launch of Wikipedia in January 2001, but I do recall when students started using Wikipedia links in project reports and the like. Unfortunately, at the beginning, many of the articles on scientific topics were very poor – often laughably so – and I discouraged students from using them. Now, over twenty years and the efforts of many volunteer editors later, they are generally very good. I now encourage students to use Wikipedia as a resource, but I still discourage them from including references to it in formal reports. The best way to use it is to get an overview but then dig down into the references which most articles lists.

I find Wikipedia an excellent resource for things outside science of course, especially music, and link to articles there very often from this blog.

Somewhere along the line somebody even set up a Wikipedia page about me. It began as “just a stub” but has been updated from time to time. I don’t know who set it up or who has updated it. I just looked and it still says I am Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Royal Astronomical Society, when I resigned from both organizations earlier this year. I’ve edited a few articles there myself, actually, mostly on cosmology but also on jazz. Some of my blog posts are linked from there too but it would seem inappropriate for me to edit my own Wikipedia page.

Anyway, if you’re a fan of Wikipedia and/or despise Elon Musk then please consider making a donation.

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Nollaig shona daoibh go léir!

Posted in Uncategorized on December 25, 2024 by telescoper

Here we are then, Christmas Day. I thought I’d do a quick yule blog in between finishing a rather late breakfast and starting the preparations for dinner*.

Let me just wish you all a Merry Christmas, Nollaig Shona, Nadolig Llawen, Fröhliche Weihnachten, Joyeux Noël, Buon Natale, Feliz Navidad, Feliç Nadal, Glædelig Jul, etc…

And in the words of a traditional Irish toast:

Go mbeirimid beo ar an am seo arís!

(“May we live to see this time next year”)

*Roast duck, with a port and redcurrant sauce, braised red cabbage, honey-roast carrots and parsnips, and roast potatoes.

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Midnight Mass

Posted in Maynooth, Television with tags , , , on December 24, 2024 by telescoper

I noticed on tonight’s TV schedule that there’s a live broadcast on RTÉ One of Midnight Mass from St Mary’s Church, Maynooth.

Unfortunately, it clashes with another Christmas tradition, Die Hard, on TG4.

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A Childhood Christmas – Patrick Kavanagh

Posted in Poetry with tags , , on December 24, 2024 by telescoper 
One side of the potato-pits was white with frost -
How wonderful that was, how wonderful!
And when we put our ears to the paling-post
The music that came out was magical.

The light between the ricks of hay and straw
Was a hole in Heaven's gable. An apple tree
With its December-glinting fruit we saw -
O you, Eve, were the world that tempted me.

To eat the knowledge that grew in clay
And death the germ within it! Now and then
I can remember something of the gay
Garden that was childhood's. Again.

The tracks of cattle to a drinking-place,
A green stone lying sideways in a ditch,
Or any common sight, the transfigured face
Of a beauty that the world did not touch.

My father played the melodion
Outside at our gate;
There were stars in the morning east
And they danced to his music.

Across the wild bogs his melodion called
To Lennons and Callans.
As I pulled on my trousers in a hurry
I knew some strange thing had happened.

Outside in the cow-house my mother
Made the music of milking;
The light of her stable-lamp was a star
And the frost of Bethlehem made it twinkle.

A water-hen screeched in the bog,
Mass-going feet
Crunched the wafer-ice on the pot-holes,
Somebody wistfully twisted the bellows wheel.

My child poet picked out the letters
On the grey stone,
In silver the wonder of a Christmas townland,
The winking glitter of a frosty dawn.

Cassiopeia was over
Cassidy's hanging hill,
I looked and three whin bushes rode across
The horizon — the Three Wise Kings.

And old man passing said:
‘Can't he make it talk -
The melodion.' I hid in the doorway
And tightened the belt of my box-pleated coat.

I nicked six nicks on the door-post
With my penknife's big blade -
there was a little one for cutting tobacco.
And I was six Christmases of age.

My father played the melodion,
My mother milked the cows,
And I had a prayer like a white rose pinned
On the Virgin Mary's blouse.

by Patrick Kavanagh (1904-1967)

Here is the poem, beautifully read by Stephen Rea:

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Rétglu etir rind

Posted in Maynooth, Music with tags , , , , on December 23, 2024 by telescoper

Since Christmas is approaching rapidly, I thought I’d share this video of the first ever public performance of Christmas setting for Chamber Choir, Gallery Schola and Organ from Dr Ryan Molloy, based on a newly-composed text by Maynooth University Professor of Old Irish, David Stifter. It was recorded in the impressive chapel of St Patrick’s Pontifical University during the annual carol service at Maynooth which took place this year on 17th December. The Irish title Rétglu etir rind means “a star among constellations”.

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