Bernard Lovell

[Choir Man]

Bernard Lovell, the physicist and radio astronomer who died earlier this week was described as 'a devoted church organist' by The Times, although no further details were given in his obituary. Can any members of this forum add any further information on history at the console?

[Guest Geoff McMahon]

He was, for many years, the organist at his church at Swettenham. My father built a small extension organ for him and the church in 1964, which is still there. I don't know how long he stayed as organist, but he wrote to me about it in 2005.

 

John

[MusingMuso]

Bernard Lovell, the physicist and radio astronomer who died earlier this week was described as 'a devoted church organist' by The Times, although no further details were given in his obituary. Can any members of this forum add any further information on history at the console?

 

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Thank you for mentionng the death of Sir Bernard Lovell OBE. I was going to do this, but work prevented it immediately.

 

The following is a splendid account of his life at the console, and also his friendship with the late Noel Mander. It is part of a series of videos about his remarkable life and work.

 

http://www.webofstor...o=S&srId=273258

 

I was a little saddened personally, because at the tender age of 15, I unwittingly met the great man at Joderell Bank, and he was so kind and patient; happy to explain what interferometery was all about to a total novice. Unfortunately, I didn't know he was an organist and he didn't know that I had started to play the instrument at the time, which in retrospect, was a bit of a lost moment, but his charm and sincerty were not lost to me.

 

Of course, being a man of the church, it was a source of trouble to him that his war-work, (for which he received the OBE), was key to the successful bombing raids on Berlin and elsewhere. It was not something which sat easily or comfortably alongside his considerable humanity. It should also be said that there remains a mystery about his life, in that he was allegedly targeted by the KGB in Russia, with the suggestion that they wanted him "taken out." It was something which Sir Bernard Lovell would never talk about, and it will be interesting to see if the truth ever emerges.

 

So a long and brilliantly creative life comes to an end, in which we may rejoice and for which we may be grateful.

 

RIP Sir Bernard Lovell OBE, FRS. (31 August 1913 – 6 August 2012)

 

 

MM

[pwhodges]

he was allegedly targeted by the KGB in Russia, with the suggestion that they wanted him "taken out." It was something which Sir Bernard Lovell would never talk about, and it will be interesting to see if the truth ever emerges.

 

It appears he wrote an account to be published only after his death.

 

In 1963, they invited him to the USSR for an unprecedented tour of their observatories. Soon afterwards, he fell ill with severe sickness and remained so for a month. It would be another 46 years before he voiced his suspicions as to the cause but when he did, in a television interview in 2009, jaws dropped in astonishment: the Soviets, he said, had tried to kill him by bombarding him with lethal radiation. He also hinted that the KGB had tried to “turn” him during his visit, implying that his refusal to defect would have given them another reason to want him dead. He had written a detailed account, he added, but it would not be published until after his death.

 

Paul

[Adnosad]

Can remember an interview with him on the tv many aeons ago in which he gave a quite remarkable rendition of Chorale No.3

 

Interesting the link between great scientific minds and their affinity with music.

[MusingMuso]

Can remember an interview with him on the tv many aeons ago in which he gave a quite remarkable rendition of Chorale No.3

 

Interesting the link between great scientific minds and their affinity with music.

 

 

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Indeed!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKE40ffn-NU&feature=related

 

 

MM