Tag Archives: Oxford

Specola Guestbook | May 9, 2017: Sir Roger Penrose

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This entry is part 63 of 77 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, Nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. We’re going to interrupt the usual chronological order this week, due to an interesting development in current events.  It may have slipped your attention in the midst of other breaking news bulletins, but this week the Nobel committee announced the recipients of the 2020 Nobel prize in physics.  They are Roger Penrose “for the discovery that black hole formation is a robust prediction of the general theory of relativity” and Reinhard Genzel and Andrea Ghez “for the discovery of a supermassive compact object at the centre of our galaxy.” [Special mention should be made for Andrea Ghez, a professor at UCLA.  Women are woefully underrepresented among Nobel laureates. She is only the fourth woman to receive the physics prize. She joins ranks with Marie Curie, Maria Goeppert-Mayer, … Continue reading →

Specola Guestbook | April 1, 1920: Sydney Chapman

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This entry is part 52 of 77 in the series Specola Guestbook

Since its founding in 1891, many people have passed through the doors of the Vatican Observatory.  A quick perusal of our guestbook reveals several Names, including Popes, nobel laureates, astronauts, actors, and saints. Today’s guestbook entry is from April 1, 1920 (no foolin’!), when Sydney Chapman made a visit. Next to his name, Sydney Chapman FRS (1888-1970) wrote, “Professor, The University, Manchester, lately of Greenwich Observatory.”  He was the Beyer Chair of Applied Mathematics at the University of Manchester. He was a mathematician who turned his skills to various astronomical and atmospheric phenomena.  Prior to joining the faculty at the University of Manchester in 1919, he was assistant to the Astronomer Royal Sir Frank Dyson at the Greenwich Observatory.  Much of his work there involved studying the influence of the Sun and Moon on terrestrial magnetism. He became Sedleian Chair of Natural Philosophy at Oxford in 1946. After retiring in 1953, he relocated to the US. He spent much of … Continue reading →