Government NOT closing Jodrell Bank!

[Jason Thompson]

Hot on the heels of the apalling decision (now reversed)to withdraw the UK from the Gemini North telescope, thus depriving the country of access to the best instruments for study of our own skies and threatening to cripple astronomy in this country, there are now plans to cease funding for Jodrell Bank, the best radio telescope in this country and still highly valued in the world, which will undoubtedly lead to its closure, thus ending radio astronomy in the UK altogether. The astronomical community is justifiably outraged at this scientific vandalism, carried out by people who just don't get what this whole branch of science has actually done for us and for the world at large. And they wonder why this country suffers a 'brain drain', with scientists running off to work in other countries. It's because they keep cutting back the funding and facilities here! This is not complicated.

Please visit the petitions page and add your voice to those of us trying to inject a little common sense into the funding of sciences in this country, and get us out of the grossly short-sighted decision making processes we are currently mired in, wherein nothing that doesn't have an immediately obvious benefit is considered worthy of support and funds.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/jodrellfunding/

[SiHart]

I signed. What a very short sighted piece of work it'd be to shut it down.

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I've signed it.

Si.

[Dirk Gently]

I too have signed it.

[MacNimon]

And me!

[enzo1701]

I've signed... ish (need to reply to the email they're sending and can't do this til I get home from work later).

[Si Hunt]

If any more banks close, I really do fear for the effects on the credit crunch.

Si.

[WhiteCrow]

This is really a shame.

I went for probably the strangest job interview of my life at Jodrell Bank - it involved lots of surreal elements like being harassed by Isaac Newtons ghost. But as a Physics and Astronomy grad, standing there in the control room, looking out over the main telescope was a historic moment for me.

Jodrell Bank has for years been the envy of the International Astronomy community. How typical of this Government to literally be selling off the family jewels. Next they'll be wondering why we lack so many scientists and engineers. Maybe they'll close down Stephen Hawkings group next?

I wouldnt mind, but every week we find out the government has wasted millions on unwanted studies of habits. Somewhere that does real science and real study though just HAS to be closed down.

[Pip Madeley]

I've signed! This country really is going down the shitter.

[Wayne]

Done.

[Jason Thompson]

Thank you all. I really can't belive the government idiots are being so short-sighted about this. Closing Jodrell Bank will be the worst piece of scientific vandalism since the closure of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (the organisation, not the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, which is still there of course) in 1998. Astronomy has been such an important field of science throughout history, and to close it down in favour of more inward-looking studies is absurd, and this country will become so inward-looking that it is in danger of disappearing up its own arse.

[Captain Tancredi]

Funnily enough it was only on Monday that I found myself passing within a few miles of Jodrell Bank- I was on a train from Chester to Stockport (for reasons which don't bear going into) and you can see it for a few minutes somewhere around Knutsford- and thinking how well it's grown into that landscape. Part of the problem is that science (barring major medical breakthroughs) doesn't win votes or inspire people any more. I may be going a bit deep here, but in the post-war period up until about 1970 science and technology were new and exciting, with big projects going on everywhere, be it atomic research, Concorde, computers or radio astronomy. What seems to have happened more recently is that the cutting edge stuff is happening at a very small level- while places like Jodrell Bank are collecting raw data, it's all being analysed on somebody's computer in a lab somewhere else, while in physics and medicine, the emphasis has moved on to working at the microscopic level. And in government there's a feeling that as long as somebody somewhere is making these breakthroughs for the benefit of mankind, there's no real need for the British taxpayer to be funding them.

[Carol Baynes]

This is crazy talk. Petition signed.

[WhiteCrow]

It's a sad truth that science and technology is on the decline. My old department at the University of Essex has been closed down to make way for more "trendy" subjects.

In truth I sometimes say science was the first woman I ever loved, and the most faithful. Sounds geeky, but for some of us it is a love affair.

The irony is the public's appetite for science and engineering has never been so great. We all want the benefits of new technology, but we're not that interested in the hows anymore.

[RetroRobot]

Such bad craziness (it could only happen in Britain!) - who are these historically-incompetent louts with no sense of the Brightish Cliche?!
Don't they know that "Patrick Moore" & "Jodrell Bank" are the two single-most famous Scientific Terms ever expatriated around the once Imperial (now increasingly Metric) Glob? Good grief, i was only misspellinng it in a joke* reference in a post to somebody or otherwise somebody-else for the first time of it's usage in my thoughts for yonks! I know better now - whosays membership on Planet Skaro isn't educational?
[* the joke's context was most humorous too, but sufficiently unmemorable that i can't inflict it on you now ]

Right, that's all i have to say on this matter - clearly the dreaded English are losing their infamous Sense Of Humour which, as we here know all too well, one needs to have when dealing with science.

RetroRobot
(Setting Education & Intellectual Development Back To The Sixties - when it was better than it is now)

[Zbigniev Hamson]

According to Martin Rees on The Sky At Night this isn't a done deal yet, and there's reason to hope the decision will be reversed, just like there's some hope with Gemini now too.

[SiHart]

Good news everyone:

I just got this response emialed to me after being one of the people to sign the petition.

The University of Manchester and the Science and Technology Facilities Council have agreed a way forward for funding e-MERLIN which should ensure that Jodrell Bank remains as a global centre of research excellence in radio astronomy. The UK has an acknowledged international leading position in the development of radio astronomy facilities and science and the Government has no intention of letting that slip.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and its predecessor Research Councils, has provided grant funding for Jodrell Bank to carry out a number of research projects over the years.

The STFC has recently carried out a review of all its programmes, including the e-MERLIN project which is run by Jodrell Bank and involves a network of seven UK radio telescopes. This review, which involved advice from independent scientists, has been used to help set investment priorities for this spending review period (2008/9 – 2010/11). While the Government sets the overarching strategy, the research community itself, the Research Councils and researchers, set priorities and distribute funds through a process of peer review in line with the long-established Haldane principle. STFC released the results of its Programmatic Review on 3 July and announced a three year £1.9 billion investment programme which keeps the UK at the forefront of scientific excellence. Details of the results of the Programmatic Review can be found on STFC’s website (www.scitech.ac.uk).

STFC made clear the strategic importance of e-MERLIN to the future of UK radio astronomy. It stated that it would continue working with the facility owners - the University of Manchester, and other stakeholders to find a solution for the financial support of e-MERLIN operations in the medium term on a shared cost basis. As a first stage in this process STFC has confirmed that it will continue its current contributions to the operating cost of e-MERLIN for the next 2 years.

The Jodrell Bank Observatory is involved in a number of other radio astronomy activities in addition to e-MERLIN. Researchers at Jodrell Bank and in Manchester are leading the consortium in Europe to design the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio astronomy facility. The proposed Square Kilometre Array will be a telescope array with unprecedented sensitivity, but it will need to be sited in a remote radio-quiet location for uninterrupted observations, and away from densely populated areas with significant radio interference, such as most of the UK. The Square Kilometre Array will be a global project, likely to be built in Australia or South Africa, and represents the future of radio astronomy. The Government is determined that UK researchers should maintain their leading role in the SKA project, which in time will support world class research. Jodrell Bank already heads the global design office, and the Government has indicated that it is willing to invest some of the capital proceeds from the forthcoming auction of analogue TV spectrum to ensure continued UK leadership in pathfinder projects for the Square Kilometre Array.

Manchester will also host the UK’s Atacama Large Millimetric Array (ALMA) support centre, with support provided by STFC. ALMA is a multi-million Euro telescope project under construction at a remote site in Chile, to which the UK contributes via its membership of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The regional ALMA centre will provide the key focus for the UK community in the use of this world-leading development utilising the skills of researchers and academics at Jodrell Bank and the University.

Si xx

[SiHart]

Good news everyone:

I just got this response emialed to me after being one of the people to sign the petition.

The University of Manchester and the Science and Technology Facilities Council have agreed a way forward for funding e-MERLIN which should ensure that Jodrell Bank remains as a global centre of research excellence in radio astronomy. The UK has an acknowledged international leading position in the development of radio astronomy facilities and science and the Government has no intention of letting that slip.

The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and its predecessor Research Councils, has provided grant funding for Jodrell Bank to carry out a number of research projects over the years.

The STFC has recently carried out a review of all its programmes, including the e-MERLIN project which is run by Jodrell Bank and involves a network of seven UK radio telescopes. This review, which involved advice from independent scientists, has been used to help set investment priorities for this spending review period (2008/9 – 2010/11). While the Government sets the overarching strategy, the research community itself, the Research Councils and researchers, set priorities and distribute funds through a process of peer review in line with the long-established Haldane principle. STFC released the results of its Programmatic Review on 3 July and announced a three year £1.9 billion investment programme which keeps the UK at the forefront of scientific excellence. Details of the results of the Programmatic Review can be found on STFC’s website (www.scitech.ac.uk).

STFC made clear the strategic importance of e-MERLIN to the future of UK radio astronomy. It stated that it would continue working with the facility owners - the University of Manchester, and other stakeholders to find a solution for the financial support of e-MERLIN operations in the medium term on a shared cost basis. As a first stage in this process STFC has confirmed that it will continue its current contributions to the operating cost of e-MERLIN for the next 2 years.

The Jodrell Bank Observatory is involved in a number of other radio astronomy activities in addition to e-MERLIN. Researchers at Jodrell Bank and in Manchester are leading the consortium in Europe to design the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio astronomy facility. The proposed Square Kilometre Array will be a telescope array with unprecedented sensitivity, but it will need to be sited in a remote radio-quiet location for uninterrupted observations, and away from densely populated areas with significant radio interference, such as most of the UK. The Square Kilometre Array will be a global project, likely to be built in Australia or South Africa, and represents the future of radio astronomy. The Government is determined that UK researchers should maintain their leading role in the SKA project, which in time will support world class research. Jodrell Bank already heads the global design office, and the Government has indicated that it is willing to invest some of the capital proceeds from the forthcoming auction of analogue TV spectrum to ensure continued UK leadership in pathfinder projects for the Square Kilometre Array.

Manchester will also host the UK’s Atacama Large Millimetric Array (ALMA) support centre, with support provided by STFC. ALMA is a multi-million Euro telescope project under construction at a remote site in Chile, to which the UK contributes via its membership of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). The regional ALMA centre will provide the key focus for the UK community in the use of this world-leading development utilising the skills of researchers and academics at Jodrell Bank and the University.

Si xx

[Dirk Gently]

Excellent. I got the same e-mail.

[Carol Baynes]

It's not long since I went with my nephew. it's an ace day out, although all the visitor buildings look very 1970s! ...which is part of their charm I guess.
Brilliant "Ask an astronomer" session as well. My nephew asked what was at the end of the universe. "A restaurant", one of the astronomers replied wryly, to a bumused look from my 9 year old nephew.

[Captain Tancredi]

I bet the astronomers climb up on the radio telescope and re-enact the end of 'Logopolis' when everybody's gone home too.

[Philipnet]

@ Carol and Tancredi