With his customary combination of wit and persuasiveness, Dr Mick was able to entice 9 Cosmic Greys to emerge from hibernation and to re-unite for an enjoyable, casual meal at the Club York.
A photographic record of the proceedings can be found here
The discussions were wide-ranging: from a radical theory of Cosmology - to the merits of the Big Bang Theory (the TV show) - to an attempt to demonstrate that there are no extroverted physicists. None of these deep and meaningful issues were resolved to everyone's satisfaction.
The most significant effort to attend this meeting was made by Dave Jauncey, who spent 3.5 hours on a bus travelling from Canberra - and faced a similar return journey before the day was out. Dave still gives talks to some of his former workmates at the CSIRO.
David Crawford is still working on his controversial cosmology theory that the Universe is static. He has written papers outlining proof that there is no need to invoke red-shift, dark energy, dark matter etc leading to the more conventional view of an expanding universe. He has yet to convince any of the established physics journals to accept his papers for publication.
Lawrie Peak has resumed planning for more ship cruises - having previously abandoned these with the onset of the pandemic. A short visit to new Zealand is imminent. Lawrie is enjoying an improvement in his hearing after a recent cochlear implant.
Andrew Fisher added to our belief that he has an encyclopaedic knowledge of anything and everything, by demonstrating a profound familiarity with the voyages of Captain James Cook. We were also treated to a tour of his own voyages around the globe after he left the School of Physics.
Laurie Wilson is undertaking a project at U3A relating to the study of emotions via photography. Some of his investigative work may be seen (in due course) in the photographic record of the current meeting of the Cosmic Greys. He also conveyed the disturbing news that John Loy has been diagnosed with prostate cancer in addition to the Parkinsons that he has been suffering for a number of years. John is now in palliative care.
Tony Bray is enjoying life in Greenwich, but has little time for any trivial pursuits of any note.
Michael Ryan still enjoys working on his handicap on the golf course - where you will find him whenever he can tear himself away from his grandkids.
Daniel Winn has not given up the idea of finding something interesting on Murray's computer - perhaps some gems that he was known to be working on - but hadn't completed. We will await developments.
Apologies were received from some of our colleagues who found better things to do than attend our progress meeting - Tony Parkinson, Spencer David, Ian Cairns, Roger Brownlee, Jim McCaughan, Alan Outhred, Juris Ulrichs.
There were no apologies received - and therefore some concern felt - for several others who had been frequent attendees: Don Melley, Derek Nelson, Andrew Bakich.
Dr Mick was unanimously voted to be the organiser for the next meeting - probably in March - April 2023, and probably at the Royal Hotel in Darlington.
The meeting adjourned
No comments:
Post a Comment