Sir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS

Sir Patrick at the eyepiece
 of his 12.5 inch reflector

Today, when the BBC announced the death of Sir Patrick Moore, I couldn't help feeling just a little sad.
I can clearly remember as a ten year old, pleading with my Mum and Dad to be allowed to stop up late to watch the 'Sky at Night' which he presented from 1957 until this year.


His life spanned eighty-nine years in which science, engineering, electronics and astronomy have experienced enormous and fundamental development.
Sir Patrick in his long life met; Orville Wright, Yuri Gagarin and Neil Armstrong; the first man to fly, the first to fly in space and the first to walk on the Moon.  He also knew Albert Einstein and as an accomplished musician, accompanied the physicist's piano playing on the violin.


Sir Patrick never had formal training as an astronomer but represented the gold standard for the best that can be achieved by a focused and dedicated amateur. His maps of the Moon compiled from telescopic observations made from his garden in Selsey, England, were used by the Russian Space Agency and NASA.


Sir Patrick has presented the monthly astronomy television programme 'The Sky at Night' since 1957. The Sky at Night is the longest running programme with the same presenter on British Television.


Sir Patrick was also a prolific writer and his book the 'Observers Book of Astronomy' kindled an interest in the night sky for generations of amateur and professional astronomers. I remember buying a copy of this book and reading it over and over again.

Sir Patrick was a one off character, astronomer and educator whose like we will not see again.  His trademark 'monocle' and the music 'At the Castle  Gate' (Pelleas and Melisande by Sibelius) will always bring him to my mind.


Thank you Sir Patrick for my life long interest in the Cosmos and for encouraging the small boy I once was to look out into the night sky and wonder at its beauty.


The next time I look up at the Moon I will wink once for Neil and once for you.

For more information  http://sirpatrickmoore.com/biography/