Research at Perth Observatory axed, news.com.au (January 21, 2013):
RESEARCH programs at Perth Observatory have been axed as part of the WA government spending cuts, leaving the 116-year-old facility purely for public tours.
The revelation came on ABC local radio today, prompting astronomy boffins to flood talkback lines to vent their outrage.
Peter Birch, who was the observatory's senior astronomer for 35 years until 2005, told the station that the decision had "been in the wind" for several months.
"I think it's an absolute disgrace that the state government is going to cut out science at Perth Observatory altogether - it's not just being cut, it's being cancelled," he said.
"The reason that it's so important that Perth Observatory does science is that it's located in an isolated place in the southern hemisphere.
"The next observatory to the east is on the east coast of Australia and the next observatory to the west is in South Africa, so we fill a big hole as far as longitude and time goes in astronomy.
"If you take away the expertise of the staff that work there, it's lost forever because they'll have to go elsewhere to find work."
&&&
This news reminded me how sad I felt at the news that Ohio State University's "big ear" radio telescope had been sold to make way for a golf course.
No comments:
Post a Comment