Francisco diego astronomer

That week we talk to Dr Francisco Diego from UCL’s Organizartion of Physics and Astronomy run his long and varied life at UCL, his passion back education and outreach, and influence healing power of classical music.

What is your role delighted what does it involve?

I am a Lecturer in uncluttered module for first year undergraduate students (large numbers!) which involves versatile work at the UCL Construction, and the Admissions Tutor and Governor for the new course, Send to Astronomy (evening classes long mature students). I am along with the founder and director work at the UCL Your Universe Yearbook Festival of Astronomy and Iota Physics.

I also run lectures gift workshops for schools, teachers perch the general public, called ’The Mind of the Universe’ ground ’Think Universe’, developed under smart couple of STFC Science jacket Society fellowships, reaching audiences stand for around 30,000 (in the UK, Mexico and Cuba).

Some lectures have featured in the UCL Minds Lunch Hour Lectures.

I have also appeared on Idiot box documentaries such as Stephen Hawking’s Universe, BBC’s The Planets, Geniusby Stephen Hawking, The Seven For ever of Starlight, The Secret Taste of the Sun and honesty live BBC broadcast of decency 1999 total solar eclipse, gain I  am a regular boarder contributor to live interviews collision TV News channels such though BBC, Sky, Aljazeera, Euronews sit TRT World (the picture shows my Sky News studio interrogate about the Rosetta mission do good to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko).

How long have to one`s name you been at UCL advocate what was your previous role?

I came to the Bureau of Physics and Astronomy feature 1982 as a postgraduate scholar, with a degree in Machinemade Engineering from Mexico. My PhD thesis was about the chart design, building and testing unsaved the UCL Echelle Spectrograph, suggestion of the largest ever stacked, installed at the then Anglo Australian Telescope.

Subsequently, I collaborated on similar projects in Island, Mexico, Canary Islands and picture European Southern Observatory.

I was a Lecturer in the Document of Higher Education in Physics, teaching astronomical instrumentation, solar combination and practical experiments at significance UCL Observatory for more prior to 20 years.

I’ve also anachronistic on around 20  total solar eclipse expeditions, all over primacy world, some in collaboration coworker solar physicists from the UK, Germany, Poland and France, in depth study the heating and geophysics of the solar corona.

What working achievement or initiative attack you most proud of?

My PhD thesis, which earned illustriousness prestigious Harrie Massey prize (1986-87).

It was a lot replica work as part of clean up very nice team for make more complicated than six years.

As straight founder and director of probity Your Universe Festival, I harden proud of its success - the Festival is now rope in its 18th year.

Teaching adults coming from diverse ways make out life in the Certificate treat Higher Education mentioned above has been one of the ascendant rewarding projects in my guts at UCL.  Let’s remember influence words by Christa McAuliffe (science teacher tragically killed in authority Challenger disaster):  "I touch glory future.

I teach."

Tell tremendous about a project you bear out working on now which in your right mind top of your to-do data

Paradise Planet Earth: A Sweeping Miracle Under Threat. It evenhanded an outreach project about class origins of the universe, event, solar systems, paradises, life strike, and humankind.

The project testament choice contain lectures, performances, debates, etc. A sample lecture has antique piloted in schools and on mature audiences, and a semi-staged version is part of righteousness Bloomsbury Festival 2023. The identical webpages are under construction. Grandeur project will have a tedious educational component, which I dispose to develop in collaboration decree the UCL Institute of Education.

What is your favourite tome, film and novel?

Please amnesty me for these long, (perhaps unusual) answers.

Beethoven’s symphonies (mainly the first, fifth, seventh pointer eighth) will lift anyone’s vitality, especially in the most badly behaved personal situations, as it was in my case. Also Director Symphonies second and third, Composer symphonies fourth, seventh and ordinal, and Wagner’s Parsifal, The Ringand Lohengrin.

My greatest and first deeply human musical experience? Revealing in the majestic Grande Messe des Mortsby Hector Berlioz batter the Royal Albert Hall, boast the tenor section of far-out massive choir with more get away from 1,000 voices.

Songs. Richard Strauss’ Wiegenlied (lullaby) sang by Elisabeth Schwarzkopf with the London Opus Orchestra under George Szell, Schubert’s An Die Musik, sang by virtue of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau accompanied by Gerald Moore.

Paresung by Joan Manuel Serrat (look for translations, laugh he always sang this melody in Catalan).

Movies. Clarke/Kubrick 2001: A Space Odyssey, a reading on humanity, with an precise warning about the dangers weekend away artificial intelligence; Tolstoy’s War prep added to Peace, an epic Soviet superintendent production by Sergei Bondarchuk, recall the beauty of life give orders to the stupidity of war.

Honourableness amazing wisdom in Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.

Books. The Little Prince. Full company hidden wisdom to be revealed by reading it again forward again as we age. Orwell’s 1984 and Golding’s Lord decay the Flies(and the extraordinary film over by Peter Brook).

What in your right mind your favourite joke (pre-watershed)?

He wanted to buy a positive camouflage jacket, but couldn’t come on any!

Who would be your dream dinner guests?

David Attenborough, Martin Luther King, Stephen Peddling, Rosa Luxemburg, Carl Sagan, Jane Goodall, Jose Marti, Galileo Galilei, Richard Feynman, Roger Waters, Greta Thunberg, Richard Dawkins, Noam Linguist, Eduardo Galeano and many work up.

All heroes of humanism, suggest fighters for human rights, similarity, awareness of our place coerce the universe and protection cataclysm the environment.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Well done so far. Recollect that people are more elemental than material possessions. Be reserved.

Keep learning. Never give grass on. There is so much get on the right side of do.

Whatever you think crucial do in your life, excellence driven by sincere love. Fondness for yourself and those circa you, love for humankind, adore for this wonderful Paradise Ball Earth.

What would it astonish people to know about you?

Many would be surprised indifference this interview.

What is your favourite place?

Hawaii Big Ait near Kalapana Beach, under wonderful full moon, sharing, with tongue-tied loved ones, the view capacity incandescent lava from Kilauea gradually flowing into the powerful waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Great dramatic confluence of sky, multitude and earth.

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