|
|||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||
|
Dr John Butler, Research Astronomer at the Armagh Observatory for over 30 years,
has recently retired.
At a formal presentation to mark John's retirement on 2006 February 1, Professor Mark Bailey (Director of Armagh Observatory) spoke to a large gathering about John's many contributions to Astronomy, the Armagh Observatory, and the social scene in the City of Armagh. Other speakers at the event included Dr Mart de Groot (immediate past Director of Armagh Observatory) and Mr Keith Oates (artist and former staff member of Armagh Observatory). John was born in Cambridgeshire, England. He graduated with a B.Sc. degree from the University of Edinburgh and obtained his PhD degree from Trinity College Dublin in 1971 with a thesis on "Cepheid Variables in the Magellanic Clouds". He worked for a number of years at Dunsink Observatory before joining the staff of the Armagh Observatory in 1973. His research interests at Armagh over the last few years have been mainly on solar-terrestrial relationships, especially on the Sun's influence on the Earth's climate. For this he has been utilizing the meteorological series maintained at the Armagh Observatory since 1795. He has investigated the influence of solar activity and cosmic rays on global warming and on the formation of terrestrial clouds. Another main area of his research has been in investigating optical stellar flares, especially on the so-called 'spotted stars'. These are stars whose light output varies due to the presence of large dark spots on their surfaces, akin to sunspots. In the last few years, John has been foremost in supervising the restoration of the Armagh Observatory's main historic telescopes. He is a well-known local figure in Armagh with his varied contributions to the music, art and film scenes of the City. |
|||||||||||||
| Last Revised: 2006 February 6th WWW contact:webmaster@arm.ac.uk |
Go to HOME Page |