Pulsar Studies in Africa, 2001 Dec 3-4

Conference Photos

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Disclaimer: The creator of this page accepts no responsibility whatsoever for the epic poetry displayed in italics. Rotten tomatoes or fragrant flowers may be thrown at Fabio Frescura's close friend von Nepomuck.

Deep discussions are already in progress before the conference starts.

Isn't this fun?

Dr George Nicolson welcomes the delegates and tells us how the pulsar monitoring program started.

The dish's director
described his own sector,
of pulsar research in the dip.
He told us of Downes
and persons renowned
and of Flanagan and her blip.

Hannes Calitz starts off the talks by telling us about accreting compact objects.

"I must produce
A compact object
in not much time."
And thus he did
with a lot of reason
and not much rhyme.
So do not say,
"I did not see
neither rhyme nor reason."
The reason he gave
and left the rhyme to its proper season.

Pieter Meintjies tells us about AE Aquarii.

AE Aquari
a star quite contrary
flares up in its own uncontrollable way.
It puts all of its maas
Upon a white dwaaf,
Until in a fit it propells it unstably away.

"This is fascinating."

Teatime discussions.

David Buckley gives us several talks in one about X-ray pulsars.

10 000 systems of this type are found
and all on the milky way
observations of these whose numbers abound
will occupy us forever and a day.
And not only so, but these systems do show,
correlations that are Oh! so complete
that pages of dots strewn all over plots
with significance are quite replete.

A Be Star's accretion disc
with the orbit does consist
the pulsar though this disc does plough
and X-ray bursts emits somehow

Then like an Italian tenor
he gave a 3rd talk as an encore
and all in the space of one.

An X-ray pulsar did discover
within its isolated cover
through interstellar medium moves
without accretion p-dot proves

Legesse shows us lots of equations.

The model's charisma
is found in the plisma
and in the equations
solved numerically
and in the diffusion of
"4-particle" current
that battle it out inimically

George ponders.

Ah, those tensors! And is that a Christoffel symbol I see?

Time to stretch our legs. Emma and Adrian have an important discussion.

Emma de Ona Wilhelmi of Potch
showed how to calculate
the brightness of blotch.
Applied her predictions
to Geminga, Crab
and showed that these stars
are simply not drab.

Emma also showed us how to correct transparencies on the spot!

Augustine tries to convert Legesse to his point of view.

Augustine Chukwude
is quite a cool dude
Who chided Leggese
with charming finesse.

There is no photo of Johnson Urama since he was unable to join us.
Augustine delivered his talk on his behalf.

From Johnson Urama
a quick panorama
of that which we need to explain
in order to say
the for and the why
of glitches and hitches so plain.

Adrian discusses braking indices.

Tiplady's a fellow
that thinks its quite rum
to think that the plural
of spectrum is spectrums.
But known to all here
that heard him thus speak
is that plurals in Latin
with "ums" are effete!

While this young deviser
of a new pulsar timer
was soldering wires and wasting away
down came the muse
of theoretical views
and showed him how to
be breaking away

"But its the standard model!"

Okkie forgot to take his student with him to the dinner. Christo brings her in, but where is Okkie?

Okkie returns to find Emma safely at Amanzingwe.

Those old Rhodians are drinking again.

Dinner does not halt the discussions.

The conference dinner.

The 2nd day dawns
with silence in dorms
and diners with dinner replete.
The hour draws nigh
with overcast sky

Okkie gives his opinion.

Lunch in the visitors centre.

Augustine and Hannes deep in conversation.

Justin is doubtful.

von Nepomuck sees reason but no rhyme.

Claire joins the discussion.

Claire and Okkie have their own discussion.

Lightning fast Okkie.

Okkie and the Crab pulsar.

Geminga Geminga
It doesn't a linger
In fact it don't even exist
As long as you stare
it just is not there
but Okkie does see it with ease

But do not you stress
we still have got Hess,
and then we shall see Cherenkov
the thing about Hess,
the thing they do best,
is trump up some bogus philatelation
the telescope round
just by table mound
and under a new constellation

Radio pulsars are clean!

A pulsar so beautiful and so very clean
and Vela the best of them all it might seem
The thing here to glean is that "pulsars are clean"

Her nature's innate
to insinuate
that theory is nought to go by
But she doesn't know
that theory will show
her data correct and say why

A "glitch" used in oratory
is a word quite derogatory

Claire's string theory.

"Fabio becomes an experimentalist.

For some is precession
become an obsession
refined to an art
in one thousandth part

"I should have been an artist!"

Fabio won't give up the floor. Beate contemplates drastic action.

"You will get less observing time on the 26m for pulsars...."

...unless....

"...we get a new telescope!"

Hey diddle, Hey diddle
You'll all have to fiddle
If you all want some telescope time
And if you're not careful
(I know it is awful)
You'll all be displaced
by VLB line.

Justin tells us about new technologies for the proposed Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

There was this guy from Surrey
who thinks I'm a wog from Calais
He speaks of kilometre
and thinks this innovative
this guy from Kent or Surrey

Fifo fifo fum
All other arrays are quite bum.
Photonic arrays
Digital displays
This system you know is quite rum.

Jonathan was there. Really!

Nalini H. Issur from Mauritius was unable to join us, but her poster did.

von Nepomuck sums up.

Claire thanks Beate for organising the workshop.

Beate the Woermann
We all do agree
Arranged this workshop
which we got for free.
Without her incessant
organising and prod
this very fine workshop
might have been a flop.

The group photos.

created 2001/12/10 by S. Goedhart -- e-mail: sharmila at hartrao dot ac dot za (replace italics with appropriate symbols)