Banging the drum for ESO

It was a pleasure to welcome Rob Ivison, Director of Science at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) , to Maynooth this afternoon for a colloquium.

I was on my best behaviour introducing his talk and even refrained from pointing out that his native Lancashire is actually in the Midlands.

Ireland became a full member of ESO earlier this year and Rob has been touring Ireland giving talks to encourage Irish astronomers to make the most of the many opportunities membership presents. Having already visited Cork and Galway he passed through Maynooth today before ending up in Dublin tomorrow.

It was an enjoyable and impressive talk and very nice to chat with Rob afterwards over dinner.

Bon voyage to Rob and thanks for the visit!

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Astronomy Look-alikes, No. 25

One of the best things about having visiting seminar speakers here in Cardiff is that they often tend to bring ideas for my astronomy look-alike series with them.  One of the best I’ve had for a while was suggested last night over dinner with yesterday’s speaker.

I wonder how many of you have noticed the similarity – tonsorial issues apart – between cheeky boy Rob Ivison and former Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament Lembit Opik? I wonder if by any chance they might be related?

Incidentally, it might be worth mentioning that Lembit Opik himself has an interesting family connection with astronomy.

Lembit Opik

Rob Ivison