Scientist of the New Century presents public lecture

Aug 08, 2003

It was a full house at the University of Wollongong's Science Centre when England's Dr Robert Walsh, who won the prestigious title of "Scientist of the new Century" after delivering the winning lecture in the recent millennium series of Royal Institute Lectures, presented a free public lecture on the topic "Basking in the Sunshine: A New Encounter with our Closest Star".

The lecture, sponsored by the British Council, was extensively illustrated by the astrophysicist who spends his days sun-gazing through a special space-based telescope.

Trained as a mathematician, Dr Walsh now works at the University of Central Lancashire. As the Illawarra Mercury reported, for the past decade Dr Walsh has been trying to solve a solar mystery -- why it gets hotter as you move away from the sun's surface. He is working with the European Space Agency in an attempt to understand why this occurs.