US photographer Brad Goldpaint has beaten thousands of amateur and professional photographers from around the world to win the 2018 Insight Astronomy Photographer of the Year. The award — now in its tenth year — is run by the Royal Observatory Greenwich together with Insight Investment and BBC Sky at Night magazine.
Goldpaint’s image (above), which was taken in Moab, Utah, depicts formations of red rocks together with the Milky Way in the distance. As well as winning the £10 000 top prize, Goldpaint’s image will be on display along with other selected pictures at an exhibition at the Royal Observatory Greenwich that will run until 5 May 2019. The competition received over 4200 entries from over 90 countries. The winning images are available here.
Some scientists have laws named after them, or even particles and elements. But how many can claim to have their own beer? Well, Peter Mansfield can now be added to that roster after Matthew Davies from the International Centre for Brewing Science at the University of Nottingham teamed up with the Nottingham-based Castle Rock Brewery to create an ale to celebrate the life of the Nobel-prize-winning physicist.
Mansfield, who died on 8 February 2017 at the age of 83, spent the majority of his career at the University of Nottingham where he pioneered the development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. For the breakthrough, he was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine together with the US chemist Paul Lauterbur.
The 4.2% ABV Sir Peter Mansfield ale is a “five-malt bitter” with “four hop varieties” that are added at various stages throughout the brewing process. The beer will be available in pubs across the East midlands and Yorkshire in the UK and is officially being launched today at the VAT and Fiddle pub in Nottingham.
Finally, Stephen Hawking, who died in March at the age of 76, may have just released his final book as well as his final paper, but now nearly two dozen items from Hawking’s estate will go up for auction next week by auctioneer Christie’s. The items include a motorised wheelchair that Hawking used in late 1980s and early 90s that has a guide price of £10 000 to £15 000 as well as a copy of The Brief History of Time, which is signed with Hawking’s thumbprint and estimated to fetch between £2000 and £3000.
The item that is expected to raise the most, however, is a signed copy of Hawking’s PhD thesis – one of five known copies to exist – that is expected to go between £100 000 and £150 000. The online auction will begin on 31 October and close on 8 November, so get bidding.
