Author of
"The Virtue of Heresy - Confessions of a Dissident Astronomer".
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Breaking news
Hilton Ratcliffe's
"Breaking News!" column
appears monthly in
Ndaba, newsletter
of the Durban Centre of
the Astronomical
Society of Southern
Africa.
Breaking News -
February 2010
Twenty-ten has
arrived at a cracking
pace. It has brought
with it a sombre
reminder not to take
things—and people—for
granted...
Breaking News - January
2010
A short while
ago, the telephone
brought sad news. Our
friend and patron of
many years, Dr Hamish
Campbell, passed away
peacefully in his bed at
the old Caister....
Breaking News -
December
2009
This is my last column
for 2009, and what a
year it has been! The
heaviest blow to my own
serenity was the loss...
Breaking News - November
2009
The Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico
has over the years been
home for radically
innovative thought. From
its days as focus of the
Manhattan Project which
gave us the first
nuclear weapons...
Breaking News - October
2009
The much-vaunted
“perfect fit” curve
published by John Mather
et al in 1991
allegedly shows the
exact alignment of
theory and observation
in the Microwave
Background Radiation...
Breaking News -
September 2009 Oh
dear! My every good
intention of doing
September’s Breaking
News on the science
of Jules Verne has gone
by the wayside—dashed by
the cruel march of time
to the pile labelled
“Work In Progress”.
Breaking News - August
2009
Astronomy ought to be an
observational science.
It really should. It
used to be, after all, a
hundred years ago or so.
Ideally, astronomers
would point their
instruments at the
heavens, find astounding
new things, and publish
them where we could all
share in the joy of
discovery. I wish it
were so...
Breaking News - July
2009
I am terrified of
Geoffrey Burbidge. I
admit it. He makes me
quake in my boots. The
larger by a considerable
margin of the famous
husband-and-wife team
that has earned the
moniker “B-squared”,
Geoff is certainly a
different kettle of
fish...
Breaking News - June
2009 HEADLINE:
AUSTRIAN GOVERNMENT
WITHDRAWS FUNDING FOR
THE LARGE HADRON
COLLIDER.
HEADLINE: AUSTRIAN
GOVERNMENT REINSTATES
FUNDING FOR LHC.
Breaking News - May 2009
We live in a
3-dimensional Universe.
Maybe the defining
characteristic of
celestial objects in
general is how far away
they were when they sent
their portraits to us...
Breaking News - April
2009
I consider myself an
environmentalist. I
would like to see human
beings become better
citizens and treat their
planet with greater
respect. However, as a
scientist, I am really
deeply despondent about
the whole paradigm that
has arisen around Al
Gore’s Inconvenient
Truth road show...
Breaking News - March
2009
Astronomy is the study
of the greater
environment, that part
of the Universe that
appears to us as the
celestial sphere—the
sky. By day, it is
dominated by the Sun,
our very own star, but
by night...
Breaking News - February
2009
On that overcast
Saturday morning, after
yet another starless
night, I awoke with
great sadness to the
following email from Tom
Van Flandern’s son
Mike...
Breaking News - January
2009
As we sweep nonchalantly
into 2009 and a sea of
political intrigue, we
can easily overlook the
drama unfolding in
science. That’s what
Breaking News is
about – sharing the
drama...
Breaking News - December
2008
Another year has come
and (almost) gone, and
we wonder what tomorrow
may bring. I, for one,
hope that it is
fulfilment of our
potential as human
beings...
Breaking News - October
2008
With Eric Clapton’s
blues mellowing the
background heat, I sit
and stare at the screen,
wondering how I’m going
to be able to tell you
the latest news from
Skywalker’s jaundiced
perspective...
Breaking News -
September 2008 My flight from Atlanta, Georgia, via Dakar, touched
down smoothly and right
on time at O R Tambo on
Friday 19th
September, and so
another dream wound down
to a conclusion...
Breaking News - August
2008 We all dream, I guess, but some of us make them come
true. Have we all seen
the summit picture of
our forever-esteemed
Ndaba editor
nonchalantly posing atop
Uhuru Peak...
Breaking News - July
2008
Time is a mysterious
thing. It’s hard to
believe that only a year
ago, The Virtue of
Heresy hit the
shelves. It seems to
have gone so quickly,
yet on the other hand...
"The further we look, the bigger things are. There is
an incredible diversity of structures in space, and I
was drawn to conclude that the cosmos is both infinite
and highly organised. And, to my human eye, achingly
beautiful." Hilton Ratcliffe
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