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New Book – Leslie Johnson’s memoir. My Personal History of The British Interplanetary Society – Liverpool 1933 to 1937

By Gurbir Dated: May 20, 2022 Leave a Comment

My Personal History of 
The British Interplanetary Society 
1933 – 1937 Liverpool

Leslie Johnson wrote this manuscript between 1974 and 1979. It records the BIS story during the Liverpool years. It includes his reflections on their collective 1930’s dream realised in 1969 – the landing on the Moon of Apollo 11. This book (paperback and ebook) includes a foreword from his daughter Pam Reid, an introduction and an epilogue from me. An excerpt from my epilogue is below and “look inside” images of the book, at the bottom.

Most of the early BIS members were writers. Post-war members included Carl Sagan, Eric Burgess, Olaf Stapledon, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Heinlein and Patrick Moore. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Willy Ley and Isaac Asimov were considered “Astrofuturists”.⁠ They were all scientifically literate, and scientific principles guided their writings. Many of the visions they imagined then underpin our 21st-century society today. For example, the focus of Clarke’s celebrated 1945 paper, ‘Extraterrestrial Relays’, is now deployed in communication satellites that provide communication services anytime, anywhere between anyone on Earth. In 1971, Clarke was invited by the US State Department for the signing of the 80-nation INTELSAT (International Telecommunication Satellite Organisation) agreement. He concluded his speech by saying, “you have just signed far more than just another intergovernmental agreement. You have just signed a first draft of the Articles of Federation of the United States of Earth”.⁠ By chance, in 1975, when he was living in Sri Lanka, Clarke was one of the first to have a private satellite link at home.⁠

In his 1973 novel, Rendezvous with Rama, Clarke imagined a human society living in colonies amongst the solar system’s planets. Rather than a World State, he imagined a United-Nations-like body but for all the colonies of the Solar System. He called it United Planets and based its headquarters on the Moon. Johnson, Cleator, Clarke and all their contemporary writers were innately optimistic and shared principles of Humanism. In October 1939, Cleator described war as the “supreme and ultimate imbecility of the human species”.⁠ Rather than undermining their pre-war naive desire for a utopian future for humanity, their first-hand experiences of war vindicated their belief in a peaceful future for a united human race empowered by spaceflight.
The interplanetary community wrote about a future in which their hopes and wishes of the 1930s would be an everyday reality. A utopian vision where space technology could deliver education, fresh food, medical needs, social interactions and intellectual fulfilment. Much of the imagined technology has arrived, but these benefits are not yet equally distributed to all the people on the planet. That technology allows more people to live longer, healthier lives for the first time in human history. Still, poverty, discrimination and gross inequality persist within and between nations.⁠

An unassuming young man from Liverpool, born in the year the First World War started, Leslie Johnson not only lived through a remarkable period in history but also made a personal contribution to it. As a teenager, he established the Universal Science Circle. He does not write about the thought processes that led him to create it. He did not explicitly express his aspirations for a peaceful world united by a single international language powered by modern technology. But all his contributions convey that vision. It is a vision far from being realised, but incremental progress towards it continues to be made. 

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Public Talk – Rocket Societies in Liverpool and Manchester in the 1930s

By Gurbir Dated: March 10, 2022 Leave a Comment

Manchester and Liverpool share a unique history in the development of rocket technology. The desire for spaceflight was promoted by the British Interplanetary Society, founded in Liverpool in 1933 and the Manchester Interplanetary Society in 1936.

They were not unique. Similar societies existed in Germany, Austria, the USA and the USA. There was even a one-man effort in 1934 in India.

In a public talk on Thursday evening 24th March, I will talk about the rise of these societies, the individuals who established them, the impact of World War Two on the development of rocketry after that led to the emergence of the Space Age – Sputnik in 1957 and first human spaceflight, Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

Some of the people who I will speak about are Phil Cleator and Leslie Johnson (founders of the British Interplanetary Society in Liverpool) Eric Burgess (founder of the Manchester Interplanetary Society), Willy Ley (a key player in German rocket society). As well as some early BIS members including Patrick Moore, Arthur C Clarke and Carl Sagan.

The event is organised by the Keighley Astronomical Society and take place in Keighley, Yorkshire starting at 7pm on Thursday 24th March 2022.

BIS HQ in London
MIS Publication – The Astronaut 1937
MIS Member
Stanley Davis
Members of the Manchester Interplanetary Society
Early meeting of the BIS
Plaque unveiled by Tony Lloyde MP
14 May 2012
Philip Turner
his farther Harry Turner was a member of the MIS
From L to R – Tony Cross, Tony Llyode MP, Frank O’Rourke and Alistair Scott
Pioneer Plaque
Inspired by Eric Burgess

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Episode 98 Astrophotography with Nik Szymanek

By Gurbir Dated: October 18, 2021 Leave a Comment

Nik Syzamnek is one of the UK’s leading astrophotographers and one who has been doing it for almost four decades.

Nik Szymanek

In this episode, Nik shares his unique perspective on how the hobby of astronomy and especially astrophotography has evolved since the 1980s when he first started.

We cover a lot of ground including modern software used for image processing and telescope control, increasing use of robotic telescopes e.g. Telescope Live by amateurs and the obstacles introduced by Climate Change and the mega-constellations of satellites. We conclude this episode on his lesser-known skills as a drummer in a band.

Books
2005 – Infinity Rising: A Personal View of the Universe
2018 – Co-author of – Spacerocks: A collectors’ guide to meteorites, tektites and impactites
2020 – Shooting Stars – 2nd Edition (AstronomyNow website)

Nik’s images on Flickr.

https://media.blubrry.com/astrotalkuk_podcast_feed/p/astrotalkuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Episode98NikSzymanek.mp3

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A video of this interview is also available here on Youtube and includes many of his images.

As the lock-down begins to end – Nik is getting out and doing some talks live. If you are in the area – catch him live in 2021 here


2nd November: Stour Astronomical Society
17th November; Havering Astronomical Society twitter.com/HaveringSociety

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Episode 92: Revisiting Panspermia with Prof. Wickramasinghe

By Gurbir Dated: January 1, 2021 Leave a Comment

Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe

The idea of Panspermia, that life exists throughout the universe and spreads via asteroids, comets and cosmic dust, has been around for a long time. Two of the strongest advocates were Professor Fred Hoyle and Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe. 

In this episode I spoke at length with Professor Wickramasinghe about his long and distinguished career championing the idea of panspermia the covering the topics:

  • Initial difficulties in establishing Panspermia as a legitimate and respectable topic for scientific study.
  • Professor Wickramasinghe’s journey in 1960 form Cylon (as it was known at the time) to Cambridge as Hoyle’s Phd student.
  • His personal recollections of Fred Hoyle (initially his Phd supervisor and later collaborator) and Arthur C Clarke, who had made Cylon his home in the late 1950s.
  • His views on how the research on Panspermia has developed and where it stands today

https://media.blubrry.com/astrotalkuk_podcast_feed/p/astrotalkuk.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Episode-92-Wickramasingha.mp3

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  • Prof. Fred Hoyle 1962
  • Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe 1978
  • Fred Hoyle and Wickramasinghe 1980
  • Fred Hoyle and Chandra Wickramasinghe 2001
  • Home-made telescope late 1950s
Pictures curtesy of Prof. Wickramasinghe

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