Solar Physicist, Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory,
California, USA.
Born:
Glasgow, 1968
Sun Block '99 Team Members
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Dr C.D. Pike
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Dave Pike is the SunBlock '99 project manager. For the past ten years he
has been employed by the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, where he has
worked on several space projects including the International Ultraviolet
Explorer (IUE) and the Japanese solar X-ray mission, Yohkoh. Recently he
has had responsibility for managing the software and science operations
for the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer on board SOHO. Earlier this year
he was co-discoverer (with Helen Mason) of solar tornadoes, which were
announced at the SOHO second anniversary celebration in April 1998.
As a result of media interest in that work, he gave several TV (BBC,
ITV, SKY news) and radio (local and BBC world service) interviews,
which were also transmitted across the USA TV networks.
After graduating from the University of St Andrews, Dave began his
academic career at the RGO in 1976. In 1985 he was seconded to La Palma
for 3 years as part of the resident astronomy group supporting visiting
astronomers at the newly formed observatory. Following that he
transferred to RAL to be UK resident astronomer (UKRA) for IUE in Madrid.
On his return to the UK he worked on ROSAT before going to
Japan to be UKRA on Yohkoh.
Mrs V. Fleming
--------------
Viccy Fleming is one of the educational experts in SunBlock '99 team.
She is Head of Science at the Downs School, Compton in Berkshire,
having been recruited to set up the school's science sixth form
which started in September 1998. She obtained a BSc Hons in
Physics at Manchester University, then completed a PGCE at the
Instititute of Education, London. She has extensive experience,
with various teaching posts since 1970 (with career break 1977 - 1983)
all in 11-18 state comprehensives in both inner cities and rural
areas. She also had a spell with VSO in Ghana teaching
'A' level Physics pupils.
When Head of Physics at Ryeish Green School, she ran a county pilot
project evaluating data loggers in school science (Ryeish was one of four
schools involved in the project). She wrote a report on the project for
the County Advisor. She has initiated the school's connection to the
Internet and also ran the Schools Online Project. She successfully sought
sponsorship from Apple Computers to provide multimedia machine for the
project. She delivered part of a workshop run by County Advisory Service
on the use of dataloggers in science for other Berkshire teachers and has
trained staff within the school on use of internet in education.
Dr K. Galsgaard
---------------
Since completing his MSc and PhD at the Department of Astronomy at the
University of Copenhagen, Denmark, Klaus has been a Research Fellow at the
Mathematical and Computational Science department, University of St
Andrews. He is working on problems related to heating the solar
atmosphere, using large-scale 3D numerical simulations, developed for
parallel computers. He has given several invited talks at international
meetings.
He is the technical supremo in the SunBlock '99 team, fluent in the HTML
and JAVA languages. He is responsible for structuring the content of the
SunBlock '99 CD-ROM, editing and including movies, investigating technical
possibilities for sound and making the beta CD-ROM version. He is also the
lead author on a contribution about solar coronal heating. He has given
public lectures in astronomy and hosted open evenings at the Danish
Astronomical Observatory.
Dr J. Ireland
-------------
Jack Ireland provided the inspiration for the SunBlock '99 project.
His youthful enthusiasm provided a dynamic poster on a PC, which
became the centre of attention at the National Astronomy Meeting,
in Spring 1998. This marked the birth of the project.
Jack obtained his BSc and PhD at Glasgow University and
then moved to the University of St Andrews to work
on solar research projects. He is now working at the Goddard Space Flight
Center (GSFC), Maryland, USA, where the SOHO science operations and
analysis is based. He is sponored by a prestigious ESA (European Space
Agency) Fellowship. Besides providing a contribution to the CD-ROM on the
recent recovery of the SOHO, Jack is helping with technical aspects and is
liaising with our colleagues in the USA.
Dr H.E. Mason
-------------
Helen Mason is a well known figure in the UK and international
solar physics community. Over the past 30 years, she has worked on many
solar space projects, including Skylab, the Solar Maximum Mission,
Spacelab and more recently SOHO. She graduated from the
University of London and is now a member of staff at the
Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP),
University of Cambridge. She has taught both undergraduates and graduate
students, and was Director of the Computer Aided Teaching of Mathematics.
She is also a Fellow of St Edmunds College, with tutorial responsibility
for the students.
Helen has a special interest in helping young people, in particular by
communicating the excitement of studying science. As one of the few
married women, with children, to survive in the academic scientific
environment, she is keen to encourage others to follow suit.
Aswell as being a mentor, she has been active in lobbying on behalf
of women in science. She is keen on developing public understanding
of science activities and has written articles, given public lectures
(including one to the young farmers!), participated in Today,
on Radio 4, appeared on TV news programmes and other science series
(for the Discovery channel and local TV). She will be giving one
of the keynote lectures at the Edinburgh International Science
Festival, April 1999.
Her role in the Sun Block '99 project is science editor,
to liaise with all the young contributers,
to help with the organisational and administrative work
and to promote the project.
Dr R.W. Walsh
-------------
Robert Walsh is a Research Fellow in Solar Theory within the Applied
Mathematics Division at the University of St. Andrews, where he formerly
obtained a First Class degree and PhD. As well as lecturing a course on
Applied Mathematics, he has given numerous presentations at international
conferences and is co-organiser of a Royal Astronomy Society International
Discussion Meeting on "The Latest Views of the Sun" in February 1999.
His research centres on the dynamic behaviour of our nearest star, the Sun.
The outer atmosphere of the Sun (the corona) is a constantly changing,
turbulent environment. Many of the exotic features present there are
created by hot, electrified gases being shaped and formed by the Sun's
magnetic field. He studies these using advanced theoretical modelling and
the very latest solar space observatories.
Robert is involved with several Public Understanding of Science Projects.
These include a World Wide Web based `Ask a Solar Physicist' programme
at Stanford University as well as being a Science Specialist on a new BBC
Education Venture called `Hands-On-Science'. His role in the Sun Block
'99 project includes the overall CD-ROM visual design, graphics creation
and manipulation, technical support as well as authoring an article on
Gravity, Rockets and Solar Spacecraft. He has responsibility for the
smooth running of a comprehensive youth work programme and is an elected
leader for Scottish Crusaders, a registered international children's and
young people's charity. In this context, he manages a small team of
students and townsfolk in organising a range of activities for primary
schoolchildren.
Mr A. Yate
----------
Alan Yate is a freelance science and technology author and editor who also
works for the Open University, as a tutor-counsellor in the Technology
Faculty. He has a BA and an MA degree and is a Teacher Fellow of the
I.Mech.E.
Alan has 30 years' teaching experience in science education,
including 23 years as a Head of Science in a comprehensive school in
Cambridge. He has produced over 60 projects published for Primary,
Secondary and Tertiary sectors of education in the areas of science,
technology, engineering and information and communication technology.
Alan has appeared on television to publicise software he designed for use
in schools and has considerable experience in writing materials for
sponsored educational resources. His main responsibility on the
SunBlock '99 team is to ensure that the educational content and
language are suitable for the target age range. He has been carrying
out extensive field trials of the Sun Block '99 material
with youngsters and this feedback has been invaluable.
Alan is also a very active member of the community. He plays
the drums in a jazz band at social events, the village pantomime,
and just for the sheer fun of it.
Dr P.R. Young
-------------
Peter Young is a young research associate at DAMTP, Cambridge University,
where he obtained his first degree and PhD. He is working on the SOHO
project and has travelled widely to present conference papers and
seminars. He has worked at the NASA/GSFC for periods of time as a planner
for the CDS instrument on SOHO. He has an interest in communicating with
youngsters. Besides providing his own material for the Sun Block '99
CD-ROM on the solar Ultraviolet light, he is assisting with the
ground work of collecting together and editing the various contributions.