The New Zealanders

Albert Jones

Albert Jones with his homemade telescope.

This is amateur astronomer Albert Jones. In February 1987, using his homemade telescope, he co-discovered supernova SN 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was the brightest explosion caused by a dying star seen in the night sky for 300 years.

He has made more than 500,000 measurements of the brightness of stars, and has also discovered two comets, one in 1946 and one in 2000 when he was 80 - making him the oldest person ever to discover a comet.

Albert built his first telescope from a mail-order 'super-lens kit' with the help of a tube from his mother's vacuum cleaner! He built his present telescope in 1948 and has it in his backyard in Stoke, near Nelson.

Professional astronomers can't monitor the enormous expanse of the sky all the time, so amateur astronomers fill the gaps.

Albert, one of the world's finest observers of stars that vary in brightness, sends his observations to more than thirty professional astronomers in eighteen countries. An American astrophysicist says of him, 'Albert's reputation for accuracy is unrivalled, which is why his numbers are trusted by all.'

In 2004, Albert Jones received an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Victoria University in Wellington for his contributions to astronomy.

William Pickering

Image courtesy of JPL - NASA. Permission of the archives, California Institute of Technology.
The New Zealand Edge

This is William Pickering (1910-2004), a New Zealand scientist who was a central figure in the American 'space race' with the Soviet Union and in America's successful exploration of the planets.

Pickering was born in Wellington in 1910. When his mother died, he moved to the Marlborough Sounds, where he attended Havelock Primary School - a school of the great New Zealand scientist Ernest Rutherford. In 1923 he attended Wellington College where he had his first view of space through a telescope.

He studied electrical engineering at the California Institute of Technology. During World War II, Pickering became involved in the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) through his studies into telemetry - the art of receiving data from a distant instrument.

In 1954 he was appointed director of the JPL, which later became part of NASA. He was director for 22 years. Pickering and JPL launched several spacecraft, including Explorer 1 in 1958, less than four months after the Soviet Union launched Earth's first successful rocket, Sputnik.

In recognition of his work William Pickering was honoured with many awards, including a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. He also received personal messages from five United States presidents and appeared twice on the cover of Time magazine.

Pauline Harris

Pauline Harris and daughter

This is Pauline Harris. She is finishing a doctorate in astrophysics at Canterbury University in Christchurch, where she is studying tiny particles called neutrinos.

Neutrinos are smaller than atoms. They are similar to electrons, but carry no electric charge. Because they are incredibly tiny, have almost no mass, and are not affected by electromagnetic forces, they are almost impossible to detect.

However, scientists believe neutrinos are everywhere and are one of the fundamental particles in the universe. According to rough calculations, one hundred trillion neutrinos pass through your body every second. (A trillion is a million millions, so we're talking about 10¹⁴ neutrinos.)

Pauline Harris was always interested in space. 'I knew I was going to do this when I was twelve. I was a real big sci-fi fan.'

To study astrophysics she also had to do very well in maths and science at school. At university (Victoria), she studied maths and physics, then gained a Masters of Astronomy at Canterbury. She is now finishing her PhD in astrophysics at Canterbury.

Pauline's mihi

Ko Maumaukai te Maunga.

Ko Kopu Awhara te awa

Ko Ta kitimu te waka

Ko Rongomaiwahine, Nga ti Kahungunu nga iwi

Ko Ra kaipaka te hapu

Ko Ihaka Whaanga raua ko Te Paea Onepoto Tarukeoku tupuna

Ko Wano Whaanga toku koro

Ko Amy Taumata toku kui

Ko William Harris toku matua

Ko William Powell toku matua keke

Ko Jean Whaanga toku Whaea

Ko Pauline Harris ahau

Ko Te Paea o-te-Rangi Taria Whaanga taku tamahine