AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

Episode 118 : Galactic Magnetic Fields

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D Vasuhandra Shaw

Dr Vasuhandra Shaw is a postdoctoral research Associate at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. Her subject of interest is a huge one, and I mean ginormous. It concerns the magnetic field of a Galaxy. 

I knew that the Earth and many other objects in the solar system have magnetic fields, but I had no idea about the galaxy as a whole. Our Milky Way galaxy is huge; how do you even begin to understand the magnetic field of something like that? She will explain. 

We also spoke about her interesting journey from Lucknow in northern India, where she completed her undergraduate studies, to Pondicheri in southern India, where many people still speak French, where she completed her first Master’s degree; Paris, where she completed her second, and Berlin, Germany, where she completed her PhD. 

We also discuss the precarious uncertainty in the careers that researchers and academics must endure before acquiring a full-time post. Not all of them make it that far.

Cliff Richard and astronomer from Yorkshire Fred Hoyle, who was the Professor Brian Cox of the 1960s, also popped up in our conversation.

Episode 117 – Early Aviation in Manchester

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Credit. Museum of Science and Industry

Manchester has always been associated with the spirit of scientific discovery and technological innovation. Cotton spinning and weaving, steam engines, railways and computing are familiar themes but Manchester also played a leading role in the development of aviation.

Frank Pleszak, an author and volunteer at the avroheritagemuseum.co.uk in Woodford, which celebrates its centenary year with an open day on September 15th, 2024, has written a blog post that includes a map of locations in Manchester identifying many of the events and people of aviation at the beginning of the twentieth century.

In this program, Frank shares his research on early aviation in Manchester.

Episode 115 – Professor Michael Garrett & Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics

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Prof. Mike Garrett FRS

In this episode with Professor Mike Garrett FRS, we discuss some of the many research activities conducted by him, his colleagues and students at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics (JCBA) University of Manchester. Many of these activities involve international collaboration and are thus conducted elsewhere around the world and not just in Manchester. One of the big takeaways for me was the work of Mancunian Dennis Walsh who made the very first Gravitational Lensing observation from Jodrell Bank. He was also Professor Garrett’s PhD supervisor.

A shorter version of this interview was broadcast on Allfm.org 11th June 2024.

Some of the topics we discussed include:

Episode 113 – Rocket Pioneer Hermann Oberth

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Hermann Oberth around 1950s. Public Domain
Hermann Ober Around 1950s

The idea of using rockets for transport had been well-established before the first flights of heavier-than-air aeroplanes in 1903. When it comes to turning that idea into reality, three names are considered as fathers of rocketry: Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Robert Goddard and Hermann Oberth.

For this episode, I visited the Hermann Oberth Space Travel Museum in the German Town of Feucht, near Nurnberg and spoke with its director Karl-Heinz Rohrwild. A summary of the interview is below along with some pictures from the museum.

The museum is run entirely by volunteers in the interest of science. The exhibits on display are a tiny amount of the exhibits that exist. Museum expansion planned the for 100th of the publication of his second book in 1929. With plans to make lots of the documents available online.I found Karl-Heinz very helpful, opening the museum for my visit during a public holiday. He and his colleagues extend that welcome to anyone wishing to visit. Contact details here.

Listen here or click the three dots to download
Hermann Oberth Spaceflight Museum

Summary

  • His father had been a surgeon. He wanted Hermann to have a career in Medicine.
  • Brilliant at maths but likely he was autistic at some level.
  • Lost his brother Adolf in WW1 and became anit-war.
  • Considered using a massive bomb delivered by rocket to destroy the senior people who decided to start and maintain the war.
  • Wrote two key books in rocketry in the 1920s
  • Fritz Lang director of the early sci-fi Metropolis followed by Frau im Mond. Oberth worked on that film as an advisor.
  • 1929: Winner of the International Award for Astronautics (Robert Esnault-Pelterie-Hirsch-Award)
  • Envisaged the use of solar energy in orbit and designed the first gyroscopes.
  • Also envisaged a huge space-based mirror that would beam power down to Earth for terrestrial use.
  • 1927 A member of the first and most successful space/rocketry society – Verien for Rsumshifffhart (Society of Space Travel)
  • Oberth championed the use of rocket staging, liquid engine propulsion and the use of rocket engines in the near vicinity of space (not in the atmosphere)
  • The RAF bombing raid on August 26, 1943, nearly killed both Oberth and Wernher von Oberth were working there.
  • Post WW2 interrogated by Theodore von Karman and it was decided Oberth was not taken to the USA. In part, Oberth did not want to go.
  • 1951 lived through tough times. He was making his living in part as a farmer.