This book is dedicated to the memory of Gisele Mersch whose life ended prematurely in June 2002. Back in the 1970s, when few people were using them, Gisele introduced me to the arcane secrets of then advanced m- tivariate statistical methodologies. I was already involved in more classical statistical studies undertaken at Paris Observatory with Jean Jung: developing and applying maxim- likelihood algorithms to stellar photometric and kinematic data in order to derive absolute luminosities, distances and velocities in the solar neighb- hood. But what could be envisaged with those methodologies...
This book is dedicated to the memory of Gisele Mersch whose life ended prematurely in June 2002. Back in the 1970s, when few people were using them, G...
This book is dedicated to the memory of Gisele Mersch whose life ended prematurely in June 2002. Back in the 1970s, when few people were using them, Gisele introduced me to the arcane secrets of then advanced m- tivariate statistical methodologies. I was already involved in more classical statistical studies undertaken at Paris Observatory with Jean Jung: developing and applying maxim- likelihood algorithms to stellar photometric and kinematic data in order to derive absolute luminosities, distances and velocities in the solar neighb- hood. But what could be envisaged with those methodologies...
This book is dedicated to the memory of Gisele Mersch whose life ended prematurely in June 2002. Back in the 1970s, when few people were using them, G...
The ship has left the Miraflores Locks, let loose from the 'mules' run by the crews of the Panama Canal Commission. She has picked up speed while passing under the Bridge of the Americas which links de facto the Northern and Southern parts of the continent, and has headed resolutely towards the Pacific Ocean waters along the rows of boats of all kinds waiting to cross the Canal in the other direction. Through a layer of tropical clouds, the setting Sun is bleakly illuminating the tall white highrises of Panama City on the port side. It took a full day to cautiously move through the whole...
The ship has left the Miraflores Locks, let loose from the 'mules' run by the crews of the Panama Canal Commission. She has picked up speed while pass...
We have arrived at the third volume of this useful series on Organiza tions and Strategies in Astronomy (OSA). It contains seventeen articles on a wide range of topics, from virtual observatories, astronomy organizations in various communities (Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, South Africa), and the role of ground stations in space observatories, to quality assurance in UK higher education. In this foreword, I shall give some views on ideas expressed in this volume, in particular from my personal experience when I was project officer for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). Let me first...
We have arrived at the third volume of this useful series on Organiza tions and Strategies in Astronomy (OSA). It contains seventeen articles on a wid...
I am most grateful to Andr e Heck for his invitation to write a foreword to OSA Volume 4 - I will use this valued opportunity to emphasise those topics in Vol. 4 which I consider important even if other topics may be of even greater importance in the universal scale of things. At the outset let me say that I commend Vol. 4 to its readers - it contains much of very great interest for organisations and strategies in astronomy. A topic which I consider to be of very great importance at this time is Adverse Environmental Impact on Astronomy. There are two papers on this topic in OSA 4 - Cohen on...
I am most grateful to Andr e Heck for his invitation to write a foreword to OSA Volume 4 - I will use this valued opportunity to emphasise those topic...
