The Life Scientific: Paul Murdin

Discovery

BBC

Science

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2023

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Astronomer Paul Murdin believes a good imagination is vital for scientists, since they're so often dealing with subjects outside the visible realm.

Indeed, over a long and successful career his imagination has taken him on a journey through space, discovering various new and unusual celestial occurrences - notably the first successful identification of a black hole, Cygnus X-1.

Paul tells Jim Al-Khalili how he spent much of his career at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, working with astronomers around the world on some of the most advanced telescopes ever built. He headed up the Astronomy section of the UK’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, was Director of Science for the British National Space Centre and even has an asteroid named after him.

This list of achievements is testament to the fact that Paul has never let his disability hold him back; a leg brace and walking sticks have been part of his life since contracting polio in childhood. But he maintains that as long as you have curiosity and a vibrant imagination, nothing should stand in your way.

(Photo: Paul Murdin in 1971 next to the Isaac Newton Telescope at the time of the discovery with that telescope of Cygnus X-1. Credit: Paul Murdin)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	It's like driving a car under an avalanche, but you're taunting the avalanche rather than trying to get away from it
0:08.5	Amazing sports stories from the BBC World Service
0:13.0	Find it wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
0:17.0	Hello, let us imagine for a moment our home galaxy,
0:21.0	the Milky Way.
0:22.0	Our galaxy is one among billions in the universe
0:25.1	clumped together in clusters and superclusters. But even our humble local
0:30.3	cluster contains up to a trillion stars. That's a mammoth task for
0:34.8	astronomers trying to map the heavens to learn what's out there and it puts into
0:38.9	perspective the achievements of my guest today. The man responsible for first identifying a black hole called
0:44.8	Signus X1. Paul Meriden spent much of his career at the Royal Greenwich Observatory
0:50.1	working with astronomers around the world and some of the most advanced
0:53.6	telescopes ever built. He headed up the Astronomy section of the UK's
0:58.2	Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and was Director of Science for the British National Space Center.
1:05.2	He even has an asteroid named after him.
1:07.6	This catalogue of achievements is testament to the fact that Paul has never let his disability
1:12.3	hold him back. A leg brace and walking sticks have been part of his life since contracting polio at the age of six.
1:19.0	But those childhood months in hospital sparked Paul's love of reading, and was also where he developed
1:24.9	his vibrant imagination, something he believes is key to being a successful astronomer.
1:30.3	He says, I have more trouble getting about the most people, but in astronomy the restrictions
1:35.8	under which I operate are irrelevant. Astronomy has let me see, in reality, views from the
1:41.3	top of the world, and through my imagination sites that are out of it.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.