Daily Image
13-03-2011
Vague Feelings of Guilt
| Submitter: | Madroon, E. J. |
| Description: | One of the mixed blessings of being an AJDI editor is facing the oncoming traffic in the ASTRON/JIVE corridors: The furtive body language, the averted eyes, the scurrying into open doors, the mumbled excuses... Sometimes the only way to establish human contact is to sit down in an office and refuse to leave before the owner has submitted something, anything. And ALWAYS, within 10 minutes, without exception, just to have some peace, he or she produces one or more gems from his or her treasure trove. It would be funny if it weren't pathetic. Here we are at the premier radio institute, the Shining City on the Hill, to which the world looks for guidance on the rocky road to SKA. Hidden in the forests of Dwingeloo, we lead (among other things, in no particular order, and guided by cutting edge astronomical research) in low noise amplifiers, modular hardware design, opto-mechanical instrumentation, getting super computers to work as advertised, antenna design, optical and electronic beamforming, focal plane arrays, data transmission, storage, handling, user access, aperture arrays, complex system design and operation, multi-partner telescope commissioning, wide field VLBI, outreach, maintenance, optimal array configurations, amateur radio astronomy, nature park development, modular software design, Measurement Equation theory, GPU programming, 3rd and 4th generation calibration, modern science management, etc, etc. We work at an amazing place, and still the AJDI editors have to beg and cajole for only four (4!) lousy images per week. To end with a carrot: You should realise that your Director sits ready to twitter your contribution into the stratosphere, if only you submit it. And if you are of a technical persuasion, submission is virtually the only way to get invited into the Presence. We look forward to a steady trickle. |
| Copyright: | Thales of Miletus |
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