Jonathan Pritchard
@pritchardjr
Bewildered vagabond and student of the stars. Professor of uncertain opinions. Radio cosmologist at MPIfR. (Opinions mine, not employers)
Amazing to see the turn out for eclipse watching in Bonn today. Hundreds of people and a really great atmosphere.
Hundreds at MPIfR for eclipse watching. Far beyond any predictions or capacity to provide glasses.
Two years ago I watched a total solar eclipse occur above a frozen Canadian lake and it was awesome and life affirming. In 1999, I watched a cloudy Cornish sky get a little darker and it was vaguely cool. YMMV.
I love the concept of the Economist’s Big Mac index. It’s a basket of commodities all in one universal package. Tasty food for thought. economist.com/interactive/...
I certainly don’t envy STFC their funding choices on this. The rising cost line looks pretty brutal. As are the cuts needed to make it not UKRI’s problem.
More than a bit concerning that the Earth’s albedo seems to have been decreasing, leading to yet more heating. economist.com/science-and-...
What a farce and a waste of public money being caused by Farage.
Interesting numbers on the funding situation for UK universities. It feels like there was a mini boom in 2011 that a lot of universities treated as if it was the new normal. And it’s now all unravelling. www.timeshighereducation.com/depth/how-uk...
10 years later, still angry about the lies these clowns peddled to win the Brexit referendum.
Quite enjoying Frankfurt. There’s more than just finance here.
Raphael and Michelangelo looking down at St Peter’s in Rome. Both having created parts and now staring at the whole. That feels quite poignant framing for any shared creative endeavour. Oh those Romantics…
Goethe is a huge icon of German culture. It’s still amazing to me that they reconstructed his whole house in Frankfurt post-bombing to make into a museum.
The sheer ubiquity of these small metal plaques in Germany is really powerful. You find them all over. On the street outside houses where Jews and other victims of the Holocaust once lived.
Hard to believe it’s only two years since Rishi Sunak called an election in the pouring rain.
Three talks in three weeks and now a much needed break. Watching the Bonner Wissenschafts Nacht stalls from the sidelines.
These huge finned octopuses are like something out of the Cthulu mythos. Astonishing that they might have been an apex predator once. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
Within academia you seldom use titles day to day, so I got a real kick to see Professor Pritchard on my place card at a dinner at my undergrad college last week.
Intriguing to be staying in the new Eddington. All part of Cambridge’s recent mass expansion. Quite the postdoc town from what I’ve heard.
@dreochapman.bsky.social Justice saw a paperwork copy of your new book in Paagman in The Hague. It’s travelled well!
I recognise this phenomenon far too well - “supervisor in essay crisis too proud to ask student for extension”. Overloaded markers failing to do the marking and unable to tell their colleagues, until a hiccup becomes a crisis.
I would never have predicted, as a teen playing Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Space Hulk, that one day there’d be a Warhammer store in every town. It blows my mind.
Remembering the start of my Covid lockdown six years ago. It sometimes feels like those years of isolation were all some fever dream.
Looking forward to reading @dreochapman.bsky.social new book - Radio Universe. It looks a fun survey of all the many ways radio waves can tell us about planets, stars, and the Universe. Nice one Emma!
Back in London briefly for funeral of my eldest sister. At 75 & mentally handicapped she was independent of mind, laughing & warm with those she liked, & suffered no fools. Her last couple of years in the UK care system were awful, but she found joy in life & made may friends. She’ll be much missed.
Never have I so wanted to ditch the conference and become a beach bum.