Sobering thought from astronomer

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33934, 29 August 1975, Page 9

Sobering thought from astronomer

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) GUILDFORD, August 28. One of the world’s leading astronomers maintains that the American and Soviet Union space programmes have been made possible by devices designed to destroy mankind.

Sir Bernard Lovell, professor of radio astronomy at Manchester University, told a scientific gathering: “It serves no useful purpose to imagine that the space activities of these two countries today are innocent of military interest. “Two-thirds of the American payloads placed in orbit are under the control of the Department of Defence, and according to American intelligence, since Sputnik 1, 18 years ago, the Soviet Union has launched 834 space missions, of which 516 have been for military activities.”

He referred to the present Russian mission to Venus and the American one to Mars, adding: “It is, therefore, a sad and ironical reflection that we have been brought to this stage by the use of devices which are themselves designed to destroy mankind ... It was the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles that led to the launching of the first satellites.”

The main theme of Sir Bernard’s address at the opening session of the annual conference of the British Association for the Advancement of Science concerned Man’s search to discover the nature of the universe.

Telling his listeners to look up to a point in the night skies, he said: “Hold a penny at arm’s length, and remember that you obscure from your vision a cluster of a thousand galaxies, 350 million light years away, and receding from us with a velocity of 5000 miles a second.” He reminded his audience that the light from the cluster had taken 350 million years to reach the earth. “In other words, as we penetrate into space so we penetrate into the past history of the universe,” he said. “The observation of more and more distant 1 galaxies should enable us ultimately to observe the conditions of the early history of the universe.”