How many things are wrong about this graphic?
R.I.P. John Peter Rhys (“JPR”) Williams (1949-2024)
Posted in Biographical, Cardiff, R.I.P., Rugby with tags Cardiff, J.P.R. Williams, R.I.P., Rugby, Rugby Union, Sport, Wales on January 9, 2024 by telescoper
A cold and miserable day in Cardiff yesterday got even sadder when news came out of the death of Welsh rugby legend John Peter Rhys Williams known universally as “JPR” after the winger John James Williams (another great player), joined the national team and became “JJ”. JPR was one of the superb players who dominated Welsh rugby in the 1970s; he stood out even in such exalted company. In my opinion JPR is was the greatest full-back ever.
JPR was instantly recognizable on the field: tall and craggy, with characteristic long hair, prominent sideburns, socks always rolled down around his ankles, he was an imposing figure whether patrolling the defensive lines or stepping up to join the attack. In the famous 1973 match in Cardiff between The Barbarians and New Zealand he was described by commentator Cliff Morgan as “a man who never shirks his responsibility”. Just watch the memorable opening try where you’ll see JPR in the thick of the action, twice shrugging off dangerous tackles around his neck, the second time receiving the ball from Phil Bennett to start the passing move from deep inside his own half.
Many people forget that the man himself scored a great try in that game too:
(Note the involvement of David Duckham in that move; he passed away just a year ago.)
As a full-back, JPR was often the last line of defence. Sometimes, tidying up after a kick from the opposition, he would clear his lines by kicking. More often, though, he would spot a weakness and go charging forward, ball in hand, not afraid to run straight at the opposition. He was quick to spot gaps in his own defence too, rushing to provide cover, often with last-ditch try-saving tackles.
As good as he was at turning defence into attack, he was even better when his side were already in control. Here are two tries he scored for Wales against England in 1976 that demonstrate his superb positional sense in attack as well as his sheer physical strength.
(Wales achieved a Grand Slam in 1976; England got the Wooden Spoon.)
JPR was a tough, aggressive and uncompromising man on the field – players certainly knew when he’d tackled them! – but a gentleman off it, and held in a very high regard throughout the rugby world and beyond. His loss is immeasurable. One by one the legends are leaving us. The world is poorer without them.
Rest in peace, J.P.R. Williams (1949-2024)
P.S. When living in Cardiff years ago I had the pleasure of meeting and talking with two Welsh rugby legends, Gerald Davies and Phil Bennett (the former at a function, the latter at a book-signing). Both were charmingly modest men. I never really met JPR properly but I remember vividly stepping out of my house in Pontcanna on a Six Nations match day and finding myself face-to-face with him in the street. He must have been around 60 then and was still the same imposing figure he was in the 1970s. I recognized him immediately. I wanted to say something and perhaps even shake his hand, but I was too star-struck.
P.P.S. JPR was a fully-qualified orthopaedic surgeon and a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons. This is a reminder that back in the 1970s, Rugby Union was still an amateur game.
Cold Cardiff
Posted in Biographical, Bute Park, Cardiff, Uncategorized on January 8, 2024 by telescoperSo here I am after a very busy day in a very cold Cardiff, about to have a pizza for dinner having accomplished quite a few of the things I’d planned, despite having to return to base for a couple of telecons: Euclid business has resumed in earnest after the break.
It has just started snowing.
Earlier today, my perambulations took me through Bute Park, where there was quite a lot of evidence of storm damage, including this:
The snow is now falling steadily.
I hope it doesn’t go on too long as I have to get a train later in the week, and even a light dusting seems to bring the rail network to a standstill!
Scopus Listing for the Open Journal of Astrophysics
Posted in Open Access with tags Elsevier, OJAp, SCOPUS, The Open Journal of Astrophysics on January 6, 2024 by telescoper
I have been asked a number of times about whether or not the Open Journal of Astrophysics will be listed on Scopus. For myself, I couldn’t care less about getting listed by Scopus – which is a profit-making service run by publishing giant Elsevier as a gate-keeper for the academic publishing industry. I have, however, heard from many individuals around the world that their research managers and the like actually take it seriously, to the extent that a journal isn’t counted as a journal unless Scopus tells them that is the case.
I’m well aware that hanging the “Approved by Elsevier” tag on the Open Journal of Astrophysics would open us up to the accusation that we collaborating with the enemy. I fully understand that moral objection, but I had to weigh it up against the serious practical difficulties facing researchers who are being forced to pay for Gold Open Access as a result of the absence of OJAp from the Scopus approved list. In the end I decided to apply, but to continue to argue against the use of Scopus and related proprietary databases by research institutions as I consider them just as corrosive as league tables.
Last November, therefore, I decided to hold my nose and apply for Scopus listing; I blogged about this here. Just to clarify, although institutions and organizations pay to subscribe to Scopus, a journal doesn’t have to pay to be listed. The application process, though free, is nevertheless rather time-consuming and I was told to expect the process to take several months. I submitted the application on 21st November 2023.
I was quite surprised yesterday (5th January 2024) to receive an email from Scopus containing the following:
The Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) has reviewed your application and approved it for coverage.
For your information, the reviewer comments are copied below:
+ The articles are consistently of high academic quality, consistent with the journal’s stated aims.
+ This title is a very welcome addition to the literature.
So there we are. The Open Journal of Astrophysics will indeed be listed on Scopus, though I’m told it might take a few weeks to appear as such. From now on, whenever anyone asks me about this I have a definite answer!
This has, however, reminded me to re-apply for listing by Clarivate. I did apply for this way back in March but the application was rejected on the grounds that we weren’t publishing enough papers (although we publish more papers than many of the journals currently listed by them). Since then our rate of publication has increased substantially, however, so I don’t think they can raise the same objection again.
It will be interesting to see if listing by Scopus makes any difference to the rate of submissions and the geographical distribution of the authors concerned. My guess is it probably will, but not immediately. We’ll just have to wait and see?
Reject the Rankings!
Posted in Education with tags Bollocks, Philip Moriarty, QS World University Rankings, Times Higher World University Rankings on January 5, 2024 by telescoperProfessor Philip Moriarty of Nottingham University – a former colleague of mine – has written a blog post in protest at his institution’s most recent and most blatant attempts to game the wretched World University Rankings system. I encourage you to read it in its entirety.
The post will touch a nerve with many colleagues around the world who will want to sign – as I have done – the open letter contained therein which is aimed at persuading not only Nottingham but other universities both in the UK and elsewhere to follow the example of Utrecht and abandon these absurd and meaningless rankings.
To sign the open letter please follow this link and to see a list of signatories see here.
Please sign – and spread the link to – this open letter as widely as possible. I’m sure there are many more academics out there who would be more than happy to sign!
A Formula for the New Year
Posted in mathematics on January 4, 2024 by telescoper
An RAS diary at last!
Posted in Biographical with tags Royal Astronomical Society on January 4, 2024 by telescoperIt’s January 4th and my 2024 RAS Diary has at last arrived in Ireland, just a day after I mentioned not having received one this year. According to the customs declaration I see it wasn’t even posted until 22nd December 2023. Why so late?
The diary part of the RAS diary, being I suppose intended for academics, actually runs from October to December the following year. In previous years it has arrived in time to use it for Semester 1 but for the last four years it hasn’t arrived in the post until December at the earliest, meaning that I couldn’t use the first three months in the new diary. I’m actually surprised it got here so quickly given when it was posted.
Anyway, here it is, along with a collection of older ones. It is actually more purple than the blue it appears in the photograph. Notice the change of logo from 2021.
Although many of my colleagues seem not to use them, I like old-fashioned paper diaries. I do run an electronic calendar for work-related events, meetings etc, but I use the paper one to scribble down extra-curricular activities such as concerts and sporting fixtures, as I find the smartphone version of my electronic calendar a bit fiddly.
A Test for Presidential Plagiarism
Posted in Education, Maynooth with tags academic misconduct, Claudine Gay, Harvard University, Plagiarism, Strategic Plan on January 3, 2024 by telescoperI was shocked today to hear the news that Claudine Gay has resigned from her post as President of Harvard University amid allegations of plagiarism.
I think we can all agree that plagiarism is a serious form of misconduct that constitutes a breach of academic integrity and, as such, should be punished wherever it is found. But just how widespread is this kind of unethical behaviour among the leaders of public universities?
Fortunately, I have thought of a simple test to identify Presidential plagiarism, which I encourage academics everywhere to carry out.
One of the documents for which a University President (or Vice Chancellor, or equivalent) is responsible is their institution’s Strategic Plan, which normally carries their Leader’s signature on the front page.
If you work in a University, therefore, all you need to do is run this document through the plagiarism detector Turnitin. This will compare the document with others available on the internet and produce a similarity report indicating how much of it has been copied from elsewhere. If the document is found to have been significantly plagiarized, then your President (or Vice Chancellor, or equivalent) should be forced to resign.
This simple test will probably lead to many so-called leaders being removed from office so, as well as improving academic integrity, it will also save institutions a great deal of money in salary costs. It’s a win-win situation for all (except perhaps for the ex-Presidents).
P.S. Please feel free to copy this idea.
The Time of Perihelion
Posted in The Universe and Stuff with tags orbit, perihelion, Solar System, Winter Solstice on January 3, 2024 by telescoper
Earth’s elliptical orbit viewed at an angle (which makes it look more eccentric than it is – in reality is very nearly circular).
I haven’t received a Royal Astronomical Society diary this year, which I’m sad about as it has been a bit of a tradition, as well as being a useful source of astronomical information. According to other sources, however, today (Wednesday 3rd January 2024) at approximately 00.39 GMT the Earth reached the point on its orbit closest to the Sun, i.e. its perihelion. At this time the distance from the Sun’s centre to Earth’s centre was 147,100,632 km. This year, aphelion (the furthest distance from the Sun) is at 06.06 GMT on July 6th 2023 at which point the centre of the Earth will be 152,099,968 km from the centre of the Sun. You can find a list of times and dates of perihelion and aphelion for future years here.
At perihelion the speed of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun is greater than at aphelion (about 30.287 km/s versus 29.291 km/s). This difference, caused by the Earth’s orbital eccentricity, contributes to the difference between mean time and solar time which, among other things, influences the time of sunrise and sunset at the winter solstice that happened a couple of weeks or so ago.
It surprises me how many people think that the existence of the seasons has something to do with the variation of the Earth’s distance from the Sun as it moves in its orbit in that the closer to the Sun we get the warmer the weather will be. The fact that perihelion occurs in the depth of winter should convince anyone living in the Northern hemisphere that this just can’t be the case, as should the fact that it’s summer in the Southern hemisphere while it is winter in the North.
The real reason for the existence of seasons is the tilt of the Earth’s axis of rotation. I used to do a little demonstration with a torch (flashlight to American readers) to illustrate this when I taught first-year astrophysics. If you shine a torch horizontally at a piece of card it will illuminate a patch of the card. Keep the torch at the same distance but tilt the card and you will see the illuminated patch increase in size. The torch is radiating the same amount of energy but in the second case that energy is spread over a larger area than in the first. This means that the energy per unit area incident on the card is decreases when the card is tilted. It is that which is responsible for winter being colder than summer. In the summer the sun is higher in the sky (on average) than in winter. From this argument you can infer that the winter solstice not the perihelion, is the relevant astronomical indicator of winter.
That is not to say that the shape of the Earth’s orbit has no effect on temperatures. It may, for example, contribute to the summer in the Southern hemisphere being hotter than in the North, although it is not the only effect. The Earth’s surface possesses a significant North-South asymmetry: there is a much larger fraction of ocean in the Southern hemisphere, for example, which could be responsible for moderating any differences in temperature due to insolation. The climate is a non-linear system that involves circulating air and ocean currents that respond in complicated ways and on different timescales not just to insolation but to many other parameters, including atmospheric composition (especially the amount of water vapour).
The dates when Earth reaches the extreme points on its orbit (apsides) are not fixed because of the variations in its orbital eccentricity so, in the short-term, the dates can vary up to 2 days from one year to another. The perihelion distance varies slightly from year to year too; it’s slightly larger this year than last year, for example.
There is however a long-term trend for perihelion to occur later in the year. For example, in 1246, the December Solstice (winter solstice for the Northern Hemisphere) was on the same day as the Earth’s perihelion. Since then, the perihelion and aphelion dates have drifted by an average of one day every 58 years and this trend will continue. This means that by the year 6430 the timing of the perihelion and the March Equinox will coincide, although I hope to have retired by then…
In the Dark 