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Sir Patrick Moore Dies Aged 89
First time accepted submitter Tastecicles writes "Patrick Moore, the monocled surveyor of the sky who awakened in millions of people an interest in galactic goings on, has died at 89. His love of astronomy began at the age of six, and that childhood curiosity developed into a lifelong passion. It was a passion he shared through his program, The Sky at Night, which he presented for more than 50 years, only ever missing one episode due to illness. Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore was born at Pinner, Middlesex on 4 Mar 1923. Heart problems meant he spent much of his childhood being educated at home and he became an avid reader. His mother gave him a copy of GF Chambers' book The Story of the Solar System, and this sparked his lifelong passion for astronomy. He was soon publishing papers about the moon's surface, based on observations made with his first three-inch telescope. His 1908 vintage typewriter enabled him to publish more than a thousand books on subjects ranging from astronomy, his first love, to cricket, golf, and music."
Not my favorite 007 (Sean Connery FTW) but not my least favorite, either.
I hardly ever watched his show but I feel we're the poorer for him no longer being alive. News reports suggest he knew he only had a few days to live but still chose to present his last show rather than spending the time on preparing. Thats dedication. RIP
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
He will be greatly missed. Amongst his many claims to fame was the fact that during his lifetime he met the first man to fly, the first man to go into space and the first man to step on the Moon. R.I.P.
Smivs on the intertubes!
Apparently, not you.
People who have a clue.
I'll see your Constitution and raise you a Queen.
A passionate and knowledgeable presenter, even if you had no interest in astronomy his programmes would draw you in. I have never read any of his written work, but will make the effort.
Also, summary missed out one of his other great TV appearances : as 'the gamesmaster', a virtual god-like entity who would dispense hints and tips to those poor mortal gamers who couldn't find their way past a certain end of level boss, or a clue in an adventure game. This showed his fun side and probably introduced a whole generation to his other work. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GamesMaster)
And he was a great man to talk to, always had time for anyone who wanted to speak to him about science or astronomy. A great character, and humble through and through.
In 1974 I was 7 years old and wrote to him at the BBC complaining that 'The Sky at Night' wasn't on at a time I was allowed to watch it (in the days before home VCRs). I still have his gracious reply.
I guess they lifted it from his Wikipedia page, if you bother to click through you get to the list, although they only have 326. The 1000 comes from reprints, different editions and different languages, which to me is a bit spurious.
Anyway, a bad write up doesn't take away from the mans greatness. He will be missed.
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Funny thing was, I switched on the t.v and his last show was on - it had been a while since I had seen one. Mercury, Venus and a crescent Moon are all visible if you have a clear sky and get up about 6:30 a.m. And if you look hard enough, you might see a new star in the sky.
I read some of his books when I was a kid. I wondered how the hell he wrote so many books. I thought he was much older than 89 when I saw him talking online a few years ago ... Anyway I got disappointed when I found out he was a BNP supporter - an openly racist political party until recently when they claimed to be culturalist not racist (at the time he joined them they were openly racist and didn't allow minority members - a few years ago the British govt forced them to allow minorities). Also, he has made statements anti gay and anti-women comments. I would like to write that off as old age senility, but then he made those comments and joined BNP in his 70s.
No offense, but its a matter of scale. This man was famous for good reason. Your grandmother, while I'm sure you loved her very much, did not advance humanity in any way, otherwise she too would have been mourned in the news. Yes human culture's celebrity worship is excessive 99% of the time, but this is one of the cases where we as a species have genuinely lost someone of great import.
http://phelannguyen.blogspot.com/
You might have a point if he was just some air-headed celebrity who never did anything except appear on TV.
He wasn't, therefore you don't.
This is the man who played duet with Einstein, made the maps used to plan the moon landings, and presented the longest running show in TV history with the same presenter (nearly 56 years!) - and it was a science show.
No sig today...
Really nice comment from Brian May:
"Patrick is irreplaceable. There will never be another Patrick Moore. But we were lucky enough to get one."
A fellow of huge significance in our lifetimes, so many of us will admit to having been influenced by his enthusiasm for astronomy and quite frankly his bravery in being himself in a world increasingly obsessed with vain self promotion. This is not to say that he was not dedicated to helping others because he is well known for tirelessly working to help any individual who asked him for help. It takes moments of searching the web to discover that he talked and wrote to countless individuals throughout his life with advice and encouragement about their interest in astronomy.
In some ways he predates the internet in his understanding that direct communication has tremendous value, in typewritten letters and time for people he met. Today we have this great digital channel where we hunger for connection through twitter, forums, email, Facebook and he did all of this with the tools of his era - connect. So top appreciation for being one of the first people in the world to join up the thrill and excitement of those in a fascinating profession with us the amateurs and the interested in space and astronomy. He was doing citizen science before the concept really existed.
And like most interesting people in the world apart from his profession he had other passions in life Cricket and particularly music, you only have to see something on YouTube showing him playing the Xylophone to understand that. Oh and that's the other thing, he obviously had a seriously funny sense of humor.
Do appreciate the twinkle in his eye at the closing words of this recent interview (skip down to number 10)
http://www.philipwilliams.uk.com/characters-on-the-coastline.html
We will be watching that candle and having a chuckle.
Thank you Patrick for passing on the light.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
He was at one time a BNP supporter (British National Party - racist)
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore#Activism_and_political_beliefs
No he wasn't. Where did you get that from??
Maybe you misread the wikipedia article you quote:-
He briefly supported the Liberal Party in the 1950s, though condemned the Liberal Democrats, stating that he believed that they could alter their position radically and "would happily join up with the BNP or the Socialist Workers Party... if [by doing so] they could win a few extra votes."
Also from the same article he spent 5 years fighting the Nazis :-
>>> Moore lied about his age in order to join the RAF and fight in World War II at the age of sixteen,[9] and from 1940 until 1945 he served as a navigator in RAF Bomber Command, reaching the rank of Flight lieutenant. He first received his flying training in Canada, during which time he met Albert Einstein and Orville Wright while on leave in New York.
As to his views on women, maybe you've seen Heather Cooper on the news who wrote to him as a child asking if being a girl would be a handicap to becoming an astronomer and got a reply (he replied to everyone who wrote to him) stating, "Dear Miss Cooper, ...... Let me assure you that being a girl is no handicap at all" and gave her hints as to what would help - Study maths, science etc.
I'll admit he had some old-fashioned views on some things like women in BBC and mass immigration but I don't think those views were things that shouldn't be said even if you (or I) don't necessarily agree with them and I don't think they detract from his good points.
He was at one time a BNP supporter (British National Party - racist) [snip] Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Moore#Activism_and_political_beliefs
Unless it has changed in the last half hour, that article doesn't say what you think that it says. What it actually says is:
[Moore] condemned the Liberal Democrats, stating that he believed that they could alter their position radically and "would happily join up with the BNP or the Socialist Workers Party ... if [by doing so] they could win a few extra votes."
(BNP and SWP pretty much representing the two extreme ends of the UK political spectrum) and...
he remained a supporter and patron of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party until his death.
Note that UKIP is not the same as the BNP. Now, I don't support UKIP, don't like UKIP and am certainly not going to defend UKIP's immigration policies but they're an awfully long way from being the BNP.
Put simply: if someone I knew joined UKIP, I'd argue with them. If they joined BNP I'd avoid them.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
Selective quoting? How about this, from the Wikipedia article you linked to:
Proudly declaring himself to be English (rather than British) with "not the slightest wish to integrate with anybody",[60] he stated his admiration for controversial former MP politician Enoch Powell.[64]
That would be Enoch "rivers of blood" Powell. Moore also wrote:
"homosexuals are mainly responsible for the spreading of AIDS (the Garden of Eden is home of Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve)"
I really liked most of his work as well, but unfortunately his political views were pretty bad.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Patrick Moore inspired many children (I still have some of his astronomy books). I have seen people who became doctors after being inspired by watching a doctor save a loved one, another become an electrician after listening to adult electrician passionately talk about his work. I've also heard how many engineers were inspired by James Doohans character Scotty
So yes your grandmother didn't make the slashdot headline, mine didn't either, Patrick Moore on the other hand would be remembered by many older /.'s for his inspiration.
Your'e all thinking it, I just said it for you
You would have thought that the BBC would be the gold standard for information on someone who had single handedly presented a programme for them for *55 years* with one edition off for illness. He wasn't happy about missing it either and felt he'd let the audience down.
"Wait. Something's happening. It's opening up! My God, it's full of apricots!"
Who the fuck cares about this asshole ?
An eminently suitable epitaph for you.
BM3
The word is "arsehole", you insensitive clod.
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For those not getting the reference, parent is talking about Heather Couper, one of the other great popularisers of astronomy in the UK. She wrote to Moore as a child asking if being a girl was an obstacle to being an astronomer - his reply to her was basically "No, not at all. But you'll have to work hard at the maths, and that's something girls aren't usually 'meant to do' in the current education system." - this was about 40 years ago, and he was spot on for the time.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
I had the honour to meet Sir Patrick (then merely Patrick) in August 1989, and to be interviewed by him for the edition of "The Sky at Night" dedicated to the Voyager 2 encounter with Neptune (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYMfPsqJke8; for anyone that cares, my interview is about 10 minutes into the video). He always insisted that he was merely an "amateur astronomer", but I was impressed by his abilities as a scientific TV journalist: he knew exactly the right questions to ask to make a rather abstruse subject (radio emissions from Neptune) interesting to a non-scientific audience.
I count myself amongst the many who devoured some of his semi-infinite number of books on astronomy as a child, and who then made a career of the subject. A great example of someone without formal training who nevertheless made a great contribution by making a sometimes-difficult subject accessible to the general public. Would that even a fraction of professional astronomers were half as enthusiastic as he was.
Selective quoting? How about this, from the Wikipedia article you linked to:
Proudly declaring himself to be English (rather than British) with "not the slightest wish to integrate with anybody",[60] he stated his admiration for controversial former MP politician Enoch Powell.[64]
Remember that Patrick Moore was quite old (89) when he died. Enoch Powell did come to hold controversial views on race, but he did not always hold them; in the 1950s he positively encouraged black immigration into Britain, and in 1959 he spoke forcefully against racism in parliament. Before that, Powell was the youngest ever professor in the British Commonwealth, and during the second world war became the youngest brigadier in the British Army,. He was a serious, widely admired and interesting intellectual. To have admired Enoch Powell during his early career is not eccentric at all, and is certainly not in itself an indicator of right wing views. Even after 1967 it was possible to admire many aspects of Powell's life without necessarily being a racist - he was anything but one-dimensional.
As for Patrick Moore describing himself as English, that is simply accurate. He was English. There is nothing shameful or necessarily right-wing about being English.
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.