International Woman's Day
Last Saturday was the International Woman's Day. Having such a day is symptomatic that something has to change in our societies but that at the same time it means that we are aware of the problem. Everyday should be the day of the woman. Everyday we (the...
Improvisation
Among the most stressful but gratifying exercises at an acting course are the improvisations. One of the aims is to learn to be in the moment, forgetting the past mistakes, and not be thinking about the next line. Good actors have presence. Real life...
Positive discrimination
The French government is currently debating about introducing positive discrimination (a great oxymoron and also- called affirmative action) measures in France. Like most other Western European countries, France has a sizeable fraction of his population...
YouTube movies on disks and planet formation
I am a member of a modelling team of objects called protoplanetary disks where planets can form. We have produced a couple of Public Outreach movies on YouTube. Our reviewers think that we should advertise better our movies and get more hits. So do not...
Scottish Astrophysics Departments
A rare coincidence occurs between two major astrophysical institutes in Scotland. The Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE) and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at St-Andrews University are located in the close vicinity of world-famous old Golf course...
Edinburgh the museum town and Berlin the living town
I visited Berlin and Edinburgh recently and I kept comparing them to each other. I like them both with their own unique characters. I wanted to write something more personal about Berlin but I could not. Then I decided to go to one of the cafes in Edinburgh...
Edinburgh has a new hero in town
Edinburgh has found a new hero to celebrate. Peter Higgs, who received the Nobel price for his prediction of the particle that provide the mass to matter, has joined Maxwell (and other scientists) in the list of local famous scientists. A portrait of...
Working at night: astronomer or DJ?
When I say that I am an astronomer, many people asked if I really work at night. It is true that I observe at night while I am at a telescope. But this happens only at most once per year. Most of the time I sit in front of my computer during standard...
Berlin Golden Hat
At the dawn of human civilization astronomical knowledge brought a lot of prestige. I was in Berlin the last few days to celebrate the Saint-Silvestre and thought that a visit to a few museums was warranted. But even while on vacation I stumble on Astronomy-related...
Painting and Astronomy, 19th and 20th century
Depictions of the sky night are rare in Western paintings. An almost accurately correct representation of the night sky is Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night over the Rhone on display at the Orsay museum just across the river Seine from the Louvre museum....