discovery – Mallaband-Brown

What’s a job you would like to do for just one day?

WordPress does not have a photo of Jodrell Bank radio telescope near Holmes Chapel in England, so I’ve chosen a random photo of a radio telescope from their image selection.

I love visiting the place, but I wish I had an astrophysics qualification so I could sit in the control room and actually be involved in the discovery of something spectacular, like the radio signal of a pulsar, or the signal from an alien civilisation. To be the first to hear something new. Like Jocelyn Bell-Burnell who discovered the first Pulsar, a fast spinning neutron star that gives off radio signals which can be detected by the radio telescope. She didn’t get credit for the discovery and wasn’t included the nobel prize when it was awarded for the work she did.

If I could be there I’d even enjoy making tea for the astronomers, or just sit quietly in a corner, listening out for signals. I used to be a member of a citizen science group looking out for alien signals. SETI is really interesting and I also like the ZOONIVERSE group that looks at data for several citizen science projects.

The trouble is if you let me in…. You won’t get me out!

If you could un-invent something, what would it be?

Yes, I know that there are weapons that have as much power as nuclear bombs but they are big and heavy and more difficult to lob at your enemies. I think we should un-invent nuclear weapons.

I would still keep power stations if they were built with safety features that stop incidents like three mile island, chernobyl and fukushima. Mainly because of the horrific damage nuclear material can cause. It’s tasteless and does not smell and you can’t feel it, but it burns and causes cell damage and death.

Sometimes radioactive isotopes are used in medical techniques such as imaging areas affected by tumors or other illnesses. I would keep these substances. I’m glad that the elements were discovered by scientists such as Marie and Pierre Curie, but turning it into bombs was, I believe, a terrible mistake. I realise they ended the second world war but the worry is that mutually assured destruction is still a serious possibility.

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: discovery

A job at Jodrell bank

Nuclear weapons