A post to the late Patrick Moore.

[GenSec]

Seems as no-one else mentioned him, i thought i'd take a moment to post some youtube clips about the late Sir Patrick Moore, who passed away at the end of last year.

He was a man who's life almost spanned the entire 20th century, an old fashioned British institution (who continued to don a monacle til the end and shun all kinds of computers), who encouraged generations of individuals to study the stars. For over half a century he presented 'The Sky At Night' a show dedicated to teaching the ordinary person about Astronomy.

Moore was a true eccentric... a man who loved cats, a lifelong batchelor after his beloved fiance was killed in the German air raids of WW2, a man who lived with his mother so that he could take care of her til the end, a man who never attended university yet became a respected towering figure in the scientific community: he even became the first person to map the moon surface, a map which NASA used to plan its own space landings.

Anyway, just thought i'd take the opportunity to post a few shows about him here! The last link was the last show of The Sky At Night he ever made.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq101ethGRo" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aq101ethGRo</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iJnDhDbT4" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58iJnDhDbT4</a>

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0exJznEZg" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t0exJznEZg</a>

Thanks,
Gen.

[tinam7]

No doubt a multitalented man. What attracted you? Astronomy?

We had a similar show by Jack Horkheimer who is now also dead. It was called Star Gazer. He'd be sitting on a rainbow telling us what to look for I could never find. But I enjoyed watching as I also like science shows on the Universe. But I don't see reasons to waste funds on Mars. We could use some of those funds to solve a few problems right here, or so I think.

[GenSec]

Hello Tina!

Astronomy is something that i've never dabbled in. I know nothing about it, lol! Yet i knew about Patrick Moore years before his death; virtually everyone in the UK of certain generations know of Moore. He was such a populariser of the science. What inspired people i think is that he directed his energu towards drawing ordinary people into the subject: he drew them in, told them they too could take it up just as he had. Science can appear a very forbidding and unintelligable thing in the eyes of ordinary people. Moore deliberately sought to take astronomy as a science down from its high ivory tower and bring it within reach of everyone who wanted to know.

In fact, i know Moore from a children't saturday morning show - GamesMaster, ha ha! He pretended to be this person who knew everything about computer games, a light hearted thing really. Kids stuck at certain levels or places in a computer game would write in to him or speak to him on the show and he always knew the answer. My generation primarily remember him for this, not astronomy! Its so silly really!

When i see footage of Moore from the 1950's, in black and white with his proper suit, proper speaking manner and neat hair, it makes me think about what television must have been like in your era. Television presenters (British ones anyway) were expected to be "proper" and speak respectfully. One of the news presenters in the first youtube clip listed here described the years when The Sky at Night began as "a different age". It sure looks it.

Thanks,
Gen.

[tinam7]

So he goes back to your childhood. Those memories are usually the most powerful. And he remained an inspiring, memorable man all his life. A counterpart here might also be Carl Sagan.

I have a book sitting here (waiting patiently with numerous others to be picked up) by Isaac Asimov, Guide to Earth and Space, a prolific writer on this topic.