Lars Lindberg Christensen
Lars is a science communication specialist heading the Hubble European Space
Agency Information Centre group in Munich, Germany where he is responsible
for public outreach and education for the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in
Europe.
T
his book forms part of the European Space Agency’s 15th anniversary
celebration activities for the 1990 launch of the NASA/ESA Hubble Space
Telescope.
Lars obtained his Master’s Degree in physics and astronomy from the
University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Before assuming his current position, he
spent a decade working as a science communicator and technical specialist for
Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen.
As an observatory in space, Hubble is one of the most successful scientific
projects of all time, both in terms of scientific output and its immediate public
appeal.
Lars has more than 100 publications to his credit, most of them in popular
science communication and its theory. His other productive interests lie in the
areas of graphical communication, written communication, technical
communication and scientific communication. He is the author of “The HandsOn Guide to Science Communication” (Springer) as well as the co-author of a
colourful book on light phenomena in nature. He has produced material for a
multitude of different media from star shows, laser shows and slide shows, to
web, print, TV and radio. His methodology is focussed on devising and
implementing innovative strategies for the production of efficient science
communication and educational material. This work involves working with
highly skilled graphics people and technicians, some results of which are visible
at: www.spacetelescope.org.
Hubble creates an enormous impact by exploiting a unique scientific niche
where no other instruments can compete. It consistently delivers super-sharp
images and clean, uncontaminated spectra over the entire near-infrared and
ultraviolet regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. This has opened up new
scientific territory and resulted in many paradigm-breaking discoveries.
Exquisite quality images have enabled astronomers to gain entirely new
insights into the workings of a huge range of different astronomical objects.
Hubble has provided the visual overview of the underlying astrophysical
processes taking place in these objects, ranging from planets in our Solar
System to galaxies in the young Universe.
Lars is a founding member and secretary of the International Astronomical
Union Working Group on “Communicating Astronomy with the Public”
(www.communicatingastronomy.org), manager of the world-renowned
“ESA/ESO/NASA Photoshop FITS Liberator” project, Outreach & Education
Coordinator for the “Astrophysical Virtual Observatory” and is the Executive
producer and director of the science documentary movie “Hubble – 15 Years of
Discovery”.
Bob Fosbury
Bob works for the European Space Agency as part of ESA's collaboration with
NASA on the Hubble project. This work is based on the premises of the
European Southern Observatory (ESO) near Munich in Germany. He started
doing this in 1985, more than 5 years before launch and so has been involved in
this huge project for quite a while. During the latter part of this period, Bob
served on NASA's Ad Hoc Science Working Group and ESA's Study Science Team
as they developed the instrument concepts for the James Webb Space
Telescope, the next generation of space observatory.
Astronomy is fortunate in that telescopes not only produce results of great
scientific value, but also of eye-catching beauty and artistic potential. This
book shows the close relationship between the two at its best.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.
European Space Agency
Agence spatiale europèene
The Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre
ESO/ST-ECF, Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
D-85748 Garching bei München, Germany
Phone +49 (0) 89 320 06 306
[email protected]
www.spacetelescope.org
www.esa.int
Includes the full-length DVD
movie “Hubble – 15 Years of
Discovery”
Bob has published over two hundred scientific papers on topics ranging from
the outer atmospheres of stars, the nature of quasars and active galaxies to the
physics of forming galaxies in the most distant reaches of the Universe. He
started his career at the Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) in Herstmonceux,
England in 1969 and was awarded his DPhil by the nearby University of Sussex
in 1973. He then became one of the very first Research Fellows at the newly
constructed Anglo Australian Observatory 4 metre telescope in New South
Wales, Australia before going to ESO while it was based at CERN in Geneva,
Switzerland. He then had a spell of 7 years as a staff member at the RGO,
working on instruments for the new observatory on La Palma in the Canary
Islands and on the pioneering Starlink astronomical computer network.
Bob is currently chairman of the ESO Astronomy Faculty, the largest group of
professional astronomers in Europe (and Chile), and is active in the close liaison
between the ESO and ESA science programmes. He has had a lifelong interest
in the study of natural phenomena of all kinds and is particularly interested in
atmospheric optics and the origin of natural colour.
Martin Kornmesser
Martin got his degree in graphics design in Munich in 1989. In those days,
computers were not yet the favourite tools of graphic designers and, through
the nineties, Martin actively pioneered the exploration of the fascinating and
newly emerging world of computer graphics.
By Lars Lindberg Christensen & Bob Fosbury Illustrations and Layout by Martin Kornmesser
In 1990 Martin Kornmesser was the co-founder of the company ART-M, where
he created illustrations, wall-paintings and all kinds of graphics design before
joining ESA's Hubble Space Telescope outreach group in 1999.
www.spacetelescope.org www.esa.int
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Hubble’s design remains unique amongst space-based observatories by
enabling astronauts to regularly maintain and upgrade it during Space Shuttle
Servicing Missions. These have not only kept the telescope at the forefront of
scientific capability, but have transformed its performance to heights beyond
the dreams of its original designers.
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