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: http://star.arm.ac.uk/annrep/annrep99/node18.html
Дата изменения: Fri May 5 20:20:19 2000 Дата индексирования: Tue Oct 2 04:03:26 2012 Кодировка: |
The Observatory maintains an active visitors programme, encompassing students, postdoctoral research assistants and more senior researchers, and hosts a research seminar approximately once per week during the academic year. The calendar year 1999 saw working visits from 7 astronomers of postdoctoral status or higher, with additional visits by 2 Ph.D. students based elsewhere. During 1999 Observatory staff also supervised 7 school work-experience students, 2 A-level summer students under the Nuffield scheme, 2 QUB undergraduates on project work, 2 Trinity College Dublin (TCD) final-year undergraduate projects, and 1 undergraduate on a summer research programme. The programme of research colloquia for 1999 (numbering 28 separate talks) is listed in Appendix D. It is notable that more than half of these seminars were provided by external speakers.
Another aspect of the visitors programme is the high frequency of visits by members of the public and small groups. Observatory tours are usually conducted by the Librarian, who in 1999 showed approximately 750 individuals from 8 different countries around the Observatory. This highlights the success of the Armagh Observatory's `open door' policy to attract small numbers of visits by interested members of the public, groups and societies.
These visitors included tours from more than a dozen groups and societies, including the Reading Astronomical Society, the Friends of St. Columbs Cathedral Londonderry, the Irish Science Centres Association Network, the Irish Astronomical Society, school parties (e.g. Armagh Saints and Scholars Integrated Primary School, the John Scottus School, Dublin), local societies (e.g. the Armagh Diocesan Society, the Friends of St. Patrick's Church of Ireland Cathedral), and students from Queen's University Armagh.
However, a far greater number of people now visit the Observatory electronically through the web-site (http://www.arm.ac.uk/), in the form of `e-visitors'. The improvements in the web-site, upgraded during 1999 by the Starlink Manager Martin Murphy and other staff (principally Michael Smith and Scott Manley), have now led to a position where the Observatory attracts more than 100,000 unique e-visitors per year, from more than 100 countries around the world. This highlights an additional role of the Armagh Observatory, as a gateway for the promotion of Northern Ireland, and Armagh City and District, on the world stage.
Finally, the Observatory hosted visits during 1999 by a number of VIPs and television personalities. Mr Lembit Öpik MP (Liberal-Democrat Spokesman for Northern Ireland) and family visited the Observatory on 1999 March 22, to present an academic sash to the Observatory, received by him from the Estonian Academy of Sciences on behalf of his grandfather, Dr Ernst Öpik, Acting Director of the Observatory from 1974-1976. The Minister for Education, Mr John McFall MP, visited the Observatory on 1999 April 8; and the actress Hannah Gordon spent a day at the Observatory whilst filming the television programme `Watercolour Challenge'. This resulted in a broadcast on 1999 October 20, featuring interviews with Observatory staff and images of the Armagh Observatory and Astropark.