December 10, 2012

expert reaction to the death of Sir Patrick Moore

Sir Patrick Moore, astronomer, author and long running presenter of The Sky at Night, died at the age of 89.

Sir Martin Rees, University of Cambridge, said: 

“Patrick Moore may have been an amateur scientist, but there’s no gainsaying his consummate professionalism as a broadcaster and communicator. He did his homework; he absorbed new ideas quickly.  To a TV audience, he was a ‘character’ — indeed in the earlier days of science broadcasting the demeanour of a ‘mad professor’ seemed a prerequisite for media success. But in his case, this image overlay a lifetime commitment, a ‘workoholic’ mission to explain, and an enthusiasm to promote his subject in whatever ways he could.

“Most scientists (I’m certainly among them) find it hard to explain clearly something we’re familiar with and think we’re experts on. But Patrick had the rare ability to absorb some new discovery, and then immediately expound it clearly to camera, without hesitation, deviation or repetition.”