My friend Jill; real-world Maser-physicist, base for the highly fictionalised protagonist in the Arecibo-centric movie 'Contact', emailed me today: Actually a very lengthy message but I'm witholding most of the poetic beauty of it, as it was Bcc'd to a highly respected author in the sphere of Cosmology, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, so it may end up in their next work. Omitting it, is down to my belief in 'the observer effect'. I shall include only her closing comment. " ... it is very sad to witness the passing of this scientific Queen. she withstood powerful hurricanes, but age appears to have gotten the upper hand."
The 'Ellie' character was a composite of several people Sagan knew and or worked with. Jill Tarter was one of many. Jill Tarter can be described in many ways, but poetic is not the adjective that, IMO, comes to mind. Not sure what your point is in this apparent fictional piece. She is not a ham. Ellie was a ham in the fictional account. Sagan came with me twice to W2CXM-- a one minute walk from our offices at Space Sci-- to learn about ham radio. Let's just say that he picked up the 'vibe' of the people around him, IMO. In any case, SETI is being conducted over the next 4 years on the GBT, through Breakthrough Listen. There is the fiction, and there is the reality....
How dare you! I said, if you can read, that the large part I left out, is very poetic. I leave it out, as it was sent to a recognised Cosmology author & Pulitzer finalist; out of courtesy. Coz' see, I don't reckon you're worth it! Let's get all meritocratic propertied 'murican about it ... Stop trying to steal my thunder and back the hell up ... ... go and cry outside the whitehouse or something. "Cq, cq, cq, this is W9GFO. Cq, cq, cq, this is W9GFO; come back." On 2/25/19 7:14 AM, (Graeme Stewart) 4brb-electronics. wrote: Dear Jill, How much of your very early life, as portrayed in 'Contact' is accurate. vis-a-viz the radio hamming as a gesture to reach out ..? "no, i was not a ham. until he died, i did spend a lot of time taking radios (and other things) apart in my dad's workshop and then doing it all again when there was a piece left over. jill" The next communication from Dr Tarter seemed also to confirm that her Dad too had never been a 'ham'. "not a ham." — Perhaps a little too succinct. On 3/21/20, 4brb-electronics. wrote: Dear Jill, In the real-world did your Dad call you 'sparks'? nope - no 'sparks' jill. There you have it; once a dish, always a dish. No disrespect to you feminists who are busily surrounding my QRZ - presence with your artillery of insults. Back-up smart-Alex (plural)! I will now go and cook chips. (No such things as 'french fries' - don't exist; I lived in France 10yrs, and I never saw a single one.)
Bizarre! time was running out for another scientific facility, but them, they actually found something. https://phys.org/news/2020-11-neutrinos-yield-experimental-evidence-catalyzed.html How is it that some scientists make it while others were only faking... and there goes nostalgy, poetry, politics, tourism, etc... Nada, in a nutshell.
My point is that the reality of Arecibo and the reality of Jill Tarter, are different from the fictionalized versions. I didn't say bad, I didn't say good. I just called the difference between fact and other version(s). No one was disparaged in any way. SETI is not a viable activity at present,IMO. Is that the result of failure to bridge a post Sagan generation? Yep, I can vouch for that. Some of us were forced to move past SETI--yes, go look up the history of SETI searches and you will find me--and some of those found profound productivity elsewhere. The wrong people are doing SETI,IMO. The idea is obvious. The execution is poor. MO. Yours differs, and that's OK. I know the facts because I lived them. SETI will likely be realized in the People's Republic of China in the next 20 years. And that is hardly a 'Contact' scenario. Interesting quote: "I don't reckon you're worth it! " Should I be offended? Tell me how to process this weird statement... 73 Chip W1YW
Jill is not known as a 'maser scientist' She did the source paper on 'brown dwarfs'--important work-- and has predominantly been active in SETI. Perhaps you are confusing SETI searches which were 'maser' related, such as the 40+ year old Arecibo SETI I did with Matt Malkan and John Dickey, published in ICARUS in 1980.
We watch from a distance with some sadness of the inevitable decline in the USA of just about everything. Maybe the authorities in charge of this project just need a good hug for re-assurance and they will re-evaluate. Lots of woke words in the reason why they want to DE-commission this equipment, can you spot the 'Woke' words?
Of course I can't find any factual reporting. Mostly emotional based cutting and pasting. Is the facility needed anymore? Are there more advanced facilities out there? Sounds like it was poorly managed to allow equipment to become this unsafe. I see it was funded by a University in FL and the US gov. Was it just used to funnel money from the US government to another University? (OBTW I used to work for the US gov and there is a lot of funneling going on) If it is needed, maybe a private industry would see an opportunity? 73 NI0P
UCF is the "operator" of the Arecibo University. They took over when Cornell U. backed out after decades of managing the facility. Coincidentally, Cornell's departure occurred after Congress drastically cut funding. Many government research facilities are operated/managed by universities or non-profit organizations. So, "NO", the Arecibo program has not been merely a method to funnel money to UCF. "Real science" has been done at the facility.
Not quite. Cornell did not 'depart'. They were REPLACED by USRA, who was then REPLACED by a consortium headed by UCF. UCF had, IMO, grandiose visions of AO as a jewel in its research crown and a huge driver for donations in a STEM fantasy universe. Step one, three years ago, should have been to secure the infrastructure to assume another 25 years of operation, much like replacing a suspension bridge. UCF can take credit for demolishment of a world class research facility under its watch. Congrats UCF! Way to Go!
I don't see that USRA or UCF are entirely responsible for the physical condition (though they certainly should have sounded the warnings of expected failure). Congress/NSF slashed the budget for AO and like many government facilities. They were left to make-do with the budget given them. When Congress fails to properly fund programs, deterioration results.
The NSF wanted to 'share' costs but put gross restrictions that killed the deals with non gov't or academic entities.. Have you looked at any bridges lately? Governments are poor at allotted pre-emptive maintenance expenses. Same situation here. 73 Chip W1YW
I hope they rebuild it with better capabilities! Now is the time to engineer and plan for the future of the site if they are going to do it..
This in inexcusable! I told Elon Musk that his little satellities would block reception, lol. However, are we better off with Space based platforms rather than Terrestrial? When will the JWST launch? The USA has to invest a huge amount of money in STEM or we are all in danger!