0:00:15 > 0:00:19I'm 76, and I'm aware that I will not live for ever.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24And there are many things that I should still like to do.
0:00:27 > 0:00:31I'd like to follow my stars a lot longer than I have done already.
0:00:33 > 0:00:35Maybe I shall last a little time yet.
0:00:44 > 0:00:49The telescope that I now use, it was bought from a re-equipment grant.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51It was just after the end of the Second World War.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Nobody shows any interest in the telescope at all,
0:00:56 > 0:01:00so I could use it whenever I liked, or whenever the weather permitted.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05I set the telescope myself,
0:01:05 > 0:01:08and cranked the dome round to the right place, single-handed.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13I kept the Cambridge Observatory on the map
0:01:13 > 0:01:16as an active astronomical observatory, for ages,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18largely by my own efforts.
0:01:21 > 0:01:24It's, for practical purposes, my own telescope.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37Some people think we invent mathematics.
0:01:37 > 0:01:42I think mathematics is there, and we discover mathematics.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44It's there to be discovered.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49I think about the things that astronomers see,
0:01:49 > 0:01:55and I'm very interested in giving explanations to what is going on.
0:01:56 > 0:02:00You have this feeling for how things work.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03You then have to show that indeed they would work that way
0:02:03 > 0:02:07by making sure that the numbers actually work out correctly.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10Creativity is a lot of this.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31We all have reunions to see what's happened to those
0:02:31 > 0:02:35young, sprightly people, and see how they've decayed,
0:02:35 > 0:02:38and they've often become more interesting.
0:02:42 > 0:02:46Roger I see every day, but I don't see Wal all that much,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50and I see Nick very little, so I look forward to seeing them.
0:02:51 > 0:02:57We shared this period of at least a year together,
0:02:57 > 0:03:00and it was quite a formative year for all of us.
0:03:00 > 0:03:04Once you've done things like this, you know people like that for life.
0:03:06 > 0:03:10And I just thought it would be fun on the 50th anniversary
0:03:10 > 0:03:12to see my friends.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34Four extraordinary men are going on a very special road trip
0:03:34 > 0:03:40to revisit the places where they worked and explored, 50 years ago.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44The four friends graduated at a time
0:03:44 > 0:03:47when British academic resources were low,
0:03:47 > 0:03:51and such brilliant, young scientific minds were enticed abroad.
0:03:56 > 0:04:00Moving to California, the young astronomers met in 1960,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03and spent a formative year developing friendships
0:04:03 > 0:04:04that would last a lifetime.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07Professor Lynden-Bell and Professor Griffin.
0:04:07 > 0:04:09- Welcome.- Thank you very much.
0:04:13 > 0:04:18With careers spanning the 50 most exciting years astronomy has ever had,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21they are all together again for the first time.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24Who is this distinguished man, sitting at the table?
0:04:24 > 0:04:25Very nice.
0:04:25 > 0:04:27Hello, Nick, great to see you!
0:04:27 > 0:04:28Hello.
0:04:28 > 0:04:30How nice to see you again.
0:04:30 > 0:04:3450 years, wow, what does this 50 years mean?
0:04:34 > 0:04:39If you ask what is most important of the reunion,
0:04:39 > 0:04:42it is that it pulls together the past
0:04:42 > 0:04:45and asks you to make sense of it.
0:04:47 > 0:04:49I've got the flag with me now!
0:04:49 > 0:04:50LAUGHTER
0:04:50 > 0:04:52You can be reunited with it.
0:04:55 > 0:04:57Get it the right way up, Roger.
0:04:57 > 0:04:59'After I got to America, and I discovered
0:04:59 > 0:05:02'how keen Americans are on their flag,'
0:05:02 > 0:05:05I thought I should have our flag,
0:05:05 > 0:05:07and I bought it by post from England.
0:05:08 > 0:05:11Roger's very proud of being British.
0:05:11 > 0:05:16He felt strongly that you should proclaim that you're English.
0:05:16 > 0:05:19Roger would say, "We must put the flag up, yes."
0:05:19 > 0:05:23And we'd hold it up for him, and someone would take a photograph.
0:05:23 > 0:05:26That certainly occurred in many places.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS
0:05:44 > 0:05:46Is it the same flag?
0:05:46 > 0:05:48- Yes.- Oh, amazing!
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Good to see you.
0:05:57 > 0:05:58Yes, jolly good.
0:05:58 > 0:06:06In 1957, Soviet scientists beat the Americans into space with Sputnik.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Shocked, the US accelerated their space programme,
0:06:09 > 0:06:12and started hiring astronomers.
0:06:15 > 0:06:18For young, British post-grads,
0:06:18 > 0:06:21California offered great research institutions,
0:06:21 > 0:06:25good salaries and the two best telescopes in the world.
0:06:27 > 0:06:29Britain produced scientists,
0:06:29 > 0:06:31but there was nowhere for them to go.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34Anywhere where the climate was good
0:06:34 > 0:06:37and there were big telescopes was fine with me.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40There were postdoctoral fellowships available
0:06:40 > 0:06:44to have young researchers work in the United States.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47That was clearly the centre of astronomy.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50It was a quite unique place, Caltech.
0:06:50 > 0:06:53There were lots of people from other places -
0:06:53 > 0:06:56Canadians, and there were Swiss
0:06:56 > 0:06:58and there were Dutchmen.
0:06:58 > 0:07:02It made it easier for people who were non-American
0:07:02 > 0:07:04to feel part of it.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08We were already a ready-made group.
0:07:08 > 0:07:11It wasn't that we were so deliberately cliquey,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16but we did immediately find that we had something in common.
0:07:16 > 0:07:18Let's go, I'll get my stuff.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28The first stop on the reunion road trip
0:07:28 > 0:07:31is the Mount Wilson Observatory,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35where Roger and Wal first observed as young postgraduates.
0:07:35 > 0:07:37Do you want to start at the beginning of the trip?
0:07:37 > 0:07:39That's not very long, actually,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41you won't have to suffer very much.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45"Dear Mum, and Alan, if he's there..."
0:07:45 > 0:07:47Alan, being my brother.
0:07:48 > 0:07:51"Yesterday morning, packed vast belongings into boot of car,
0:07:51 > 0:07:54"piled in and set off about 1pm.
0:07:55 > 0:07:57"It was good to leave the smog behind.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59"Car goes very well.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02"I keep the speed in the low 70s most of the time,
0:08:02 > 0:08:06"but to pass lorries doing 60, it is necessary to accelerate,
0:08:06 > 0:08:09"and we have twice touched 90 on such occasions.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11"The old bus sure can move.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14"The tyres are good, so you needn't worry.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16"To be continued.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18"With love from Roger."
0:08:18 > 0:08:21It was dreamed up to start with certainly as a way
0:08:21 > 0:08:24of visiting all the observatories in the south-west.
0:08:24 > 0:08:26But they were in marvellous country,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30and it was a way of seeing these wonderful sights along the way.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35I was very interested to come to a different country,
0:08:35 > 0:08:39and particularly one with such a varied landscape.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43The sense of freedom, the escaping from ordinary life,
0:08:43 > 0:08:47which somebody from the working classes was desperate to do.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52We had all these people crammed in the back like this,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55and somebody had to ride on the middle one, if you remember,
0:08:55 > 0:08:57and we used to exchange places.
0:08:57 > 0:09:00Well, I always put this down
0:09:00 > 0:09:03to the fact that you'd been to public school...
0:09:03 > 0:09:06- That's right. - ..where the upper classes are taught
0:09:06 > 0:09:09- to tolerate discomfort. - That's correct.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11So that they can then use this
0:09:11 > 0:09:15as an excuse to make the lower classes uncomfortable!
0:09:15 > 0:09:18LAUGHTER
0:09:18 > 0:09:20Oh, Wal, I'm amazed you've still got
0:09:20 > 0:09:22a chip on your shoulder about school!
0:09:40 > 0:09:42The Mount Wilson Observatory,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45the site of revolutionary astronomical discoveries,
0:09:45 > 0:09:50was founded in 1904 by the astronomer, George Ellery Hale.
0:09:53 > 0:09:58He was both an excellent astronomer and a great entrepreneur.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01And he knew how to get money out of millionaires.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07Hale had a great saying - "Make no small plans."
0:10:07 > 0:10:10He believed in making BIG plans.
0:10:16 > 0:10:20The telescope was retired in 1985.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22It was too close to Los Angeles,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25and light pollution and smog ruined the observing.
0:10:34 > 0:10:35Here's the grand old beast.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46Roger began observing here 50 years ago, and returned often.
0:10:50 > 0:10:52It's nostalgic, of course.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55I last observed with it in 1985.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01While we're here, we could look in this room.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06Can lights be put on round here?
0:11:06 > 0:11:09These lights have burned out, I'm sorry, Roger.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15I'm sorry to see the way
0:11:15 > 0:11:18the telescope is not properly used any more.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Although it looks splendidly old-fashioned,
0:11:22 > 0:11:25the fact is it's a very effective telescope,
0:11:25 > 0:11:30and it's a pity to see it being, as it were, demeaned.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36Roger spent most of his time
0:11:36 > 0:11:40in the room that houses the telescope's spectrograph.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45What I actually did here was I sat on a chair here,
0:11:45 > 0:11:49and I looked in an eyepiece that was here, and guided the telescope.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54And I took photographs of the spectra of stars.
0:11:57 > 0:12:01When astronomers pass light through a prism and photograph it,
0:12:01 > 0:12:04they can analyse its spectrum, and see what a star is made of.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Every element has its own signature.
0:12:10 > 0:12:13It was supposed, at one time long ago,
0:12:13 > 0:12:15that we would never know anything about
0:12:15 > 0:12:17what the stars were really like,
0:12:17 > 0:12:20because we had no sample of them that we could actually touch.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24But with the discovery of spectroscopy,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26it suddenly became possible
0:12:26 > 0:12:28to discover in unbelievable detail
0:12:28 > 0:12:31what remote objects were actually like.
0:12:32 > 0:12:36Astronomers continued to glean information from light.
0:12:37 > 0:12:41Roger used spectra to measure the velocities of stars.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46The highlight of his career was the development of a spectrometer
0:12:46 > 0:12:48that automated the process,
0:12:48 > 0:12:53making it hundreds of times faster and more accurate.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56Planet hunters adopted his method
0:12:56 > 0:12:59to find planets orbiting other stars.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01The method was strongly resisted
0:13:01 > 0:13:04by the astronomical establishment at the time.
0:13:04 > 0:13:07People who'd spent their lives measuring stellar radio velocities
0:13:07 > 0:13:10by the old method, they couldn't bear to hear
0:13:10 > 0:13:13that there was a young man in Cambridge who could measure them
0:13:13 > 0:13:15so much better and quicker and more accurately.
0:13:15 > 0:13:19It took about ten years to overcome the resistance.
0:13:19 > 0:13:22But, eventually, the method was adopted around the world.
0:13:23 > 0:13:26Roger is scrupulous about stars.
0:13:26 > 0:13:30He made an entire atlas, mapping the light of just one star.
0:13:32 > 0:13:35This is the Arcturus photometric atlas,
0:13:35 > 0:13:39showing the intensity of light in the spectrum of Arcturus.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42It has a few pages of introductions...
0:13:43 > 0:13:45..even a picture or two,
0:13:45 > 0:13:49and then the rest of it is all graphs, like this.
0:13:49 > 0:13:52Hundreds of pages of tracings,
0:13:52 > 0:13:56and they all represent the spectrum of this one star.
0:13:58 > 0:13:59A big job.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06The graph paper was made by a little man in the printer's office,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09who had a ruler and a pen,
0:14:09 > 0:14:14and every fifth line is stronger than the other lines, you know,
0:14:14 > 0:14:16and every tenth line is stronger still.
0:14:16 > 0:14:21It must be a terrible job to draw on graph paper like that.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44The telescope is old now,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48but in its day, it enabled ground-breaking discoveries.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54It was this telescope that Edwin Hubble used to resolve stars,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and show that they were outside our galaxy, the Milky Way.
0:15:03 > 0:15:06What had been thought to be dense clouds of gas
0:15:06 > 0:15:11were shown to be other galaxies, made of billions of stars.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17People had been amazed already
0:15:17 > 0:15:19at the understanding of how big the Milky Way was,
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and then Hubble came along and suddenly showed
0:15:22 > 0:15:26that the universe was way, way bigger than that.
0:15:28 > 0:15:30Hubble went further.
0:15:30 > 0:15:34He used his data to prove that the universe was expanding.
0:15:34 > 0:15:38An expanding universe suggested a dynamic universe,
0:15:38 > 0:15:43a universe that was different in the past to how it is now.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46It really created modern astrophysics,
0:15:46 > 0:15:48but it went back to Darwin.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53Darwin gave the impetus to see things in a context
0:15:53 > 0:15:58of how they developed over time, and that has been the crucial thing
0:15:58 > 0:16:01that has allowed astronomy to move ahead.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Astronomy would make sense
0:16:04 > 0:16:08when all the pieces were put together into a pattern.
0:16:10 > 0:16:15The expansion of the universe, the birth and growth of galaxies,
0:16:15 > 0:16:19of stars being formed and producing heavy elements,
0:16:19 > 0:16:23that material going into space, forming new stars, new planets.
0:16:24 > 0:16:30It became an evolving universe, and it suddenly all came together.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34We'd taken Darwin's idea of evolution
0:16:34 > 0:16:36and applied it to everything.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I wanted to be an astronomer from about the age of six.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58I was born in Banstead, in England,
0:16:58 > 0:17:01it's a village about 15 miles south of London.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06The war started when I was just four.
0:17:07 > 0:17:09Bombs would fall during the night, you know,
0:17:09 > 0:17:12and houses nearby would be demolished.
0:17:13 > 0:17:15Of course, I had the impression
0:17:15 > 0:17:18that that sort of thing went on all the time.
0:17:18 > 0:17:21Nobody was allowed to show a light after night,
0:17:21 > 0:17:24so that the German bombers couldn't see.
0:17:24 > 0:17:26The policeman, or ARP wardens -
0:17:26 > 0:17:29that would be Air Raid Precaution wardens -
0:17:29 > 0:17:31would patrol,
0:17:31 > 0:17:33and there'd be a knock on the front door
0:17:33 > 0:17:36if there were so much as a chink in the curtains.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38So there was no light pollution at all.
0:17:39 > 0:17:42From that time, I knew I wanted to be an astronomer.
0:17:46 > 0:17:49OK, we're now in the Palma Valley, which has...
0:17:51 > 0:17:53..citrus, mainly orange orchards.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05We all liked the countryside, the open air,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07the views.
0:18:08 > 0:18:13One of the attractions of astronomy is the excuse to go up mountains.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20I was always drawn to things involving mountains.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23The fact that telescopes are on top of mountains,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26with often beautiful views, spectacular scenery,
0:18:26 > 0:18:29is one of the attractions, at least for me.
0:18:29 > 0:18:32And I came from an area of England
0:18:32 > 0:18:36in which the highest promontory was around 300 feet.
0:18:40 > 0:18:44I was born in a small village called Elsham in North Lincolnshire.
0:18:44 > 0:18:50My father was the gardener in a house which had servants.
0:18:50 > 0:18:55I was born in the gardener's cottage, which came with the job.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58It didn't have electricity or running water.
0:18:59 > 0:19:02There was a woman who was handicapped,
0:19:02 > 0:19:05and my mother used to go and clean house for her,
0:19:05 > 0:19:09and she would sometimes come back with books.
0:19:09 > 0:19:13Volumes of a thing called The Children's Encyclopaedia,
0:19:13 > 0:19:15and my brother thinks that
0:19:15 > 0:19:19instead of being paid the ten shillings a week,
0:19:19 > 0:19:21or whatever it was, for doing the house-cleaning,
0:19:21 > 0:19:24that my mother actually took the books as payment.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29My mother had an ambition to send my brother and me to Oxford,
0:19:29 > 0:19:32although she didn't really know what Oxford was.
0:19:32 > 0:19:36And so that was on the back of at least her mind.
0:19:36 > 0:19:40The books contained astronomical pictures.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43I started reading them and I learned quite a bit
0:19:43 > 0:19:45that I'd not learned at school.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49But I think the real expansion started in February 1951,
0:19:49 > 0:19:51when I was 16 years old.
0:19:51 > 0:19:55I heard some lectures on the BBC Radio by Fred Hoyle,
0:19:55 > 0:19:57the prominent astronomer.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02He gave a series of six lectures, which talked about the planets,
0:20:02 > 0:20:04the stars, that kind of thing.
0:20:05 > 0:20:09'The sun is enormously greater than the Earth and all the other planets.
0:20:09 > 0:20:12'It contains about 1,000 times as much material as Jupiter,
0:20:12 > 0:20:16'the largest planet, and over 300,000 times as much as the Earth.'
0:20:16 > 0:20:18This excited me considerably,
0:20:18 > 0:20:22particularly because Hoyle had a Yorkshire accent.
0:20:22 > 0:20:24And England is a very class-ridden country
0:20:24 > 0:20:27and for the first time, I realised
0:20:27 > 0:20:31that people with an accent like mine could do that kind of work.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39The next stop on the road trip is the Mount Palomar observatory.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Wal introduces the men to his colleagues.
0:20:42 > 0:20:44Professor Lynden-Bell from Cambridge
0:20:44 > 0:20:47and Professor Griffin from Cambridge.
0:20:47 > 0:20:48- Nice to meet you. - Pleased to meet you.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53We were all together at Caltech in Pasadena...
0:20:53 > 0:20:56- 50 years ago. - ..in 1960...
0:20:57 > 0:21:01..and we've come back to experience what it was like to be young!
0:21:01 > 0:21:04LAUGHTER
0:21:08 > 0:21:11Not bad for a 1935 elevator!
0:21:11 > 0:21:12It's as old as we are!
0:21:17 > 0:21:21- Hello, good to see you. - Good to see you, sir.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Wal has worked at Mount Palomar since the 1960s
0:21:24 > 0:21:28and served a three-year term as its director.
0:21:28 > 0:21:29That's a big telescope.
0:21:31 > 0:21:34Hale ordered a mirror five metres wide
0:21:34 > 0:21:38and it was the best telescope in the world for 45 years.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44The first time I saw it, it was an amazing experience.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47I came in and looked at all this
0:21:47 > 0:21:50and I thought, God, how am I going to survive?
0:21:50 > 0:21:54For several years, I was scared of it.
0:21:54 > 0:21:59I would come up here and there would be a slight pit in my stomach
0:21:59 > 0:22:03because I was worried that the science I was doing
0:22:03 > 0:22:08wouldn't be good enough for such a grand machine.
0:22:08 > 0:22:09OK!
0:22:10 > 0:22:12They're going to move the telescope.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18We get in there by using the elevator over there.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Going up the side of the dome slit, all the way to the top,
0:22:23 > 0:22:29and then you clamber in to that cage, the shiny thing,
0:22:29 > 0:22:32when the telescope is pointing vertically.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36My longest time up there was ten hours.
0:22:37 > 0:22:44You have gloves and we would sometimes wear flying suits,
0:22:44 > 0:22:46war surplus flying suits,
0:22:46 > 0:22:50that would plug into an electrical connection up there.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Those of us who like astronomy
0:22:53 > 0:22:57would cheerfully do this for hours at a time
0:22:57 > 0:22:59and be as happy as pigs in shit.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07Wal made a discovery confirming the Big Bang theory
0:23:07 > 0:23:10by observing the relative abundance of helium
0:23:10 > 0:23:12in these irregular blue galaxies.
0:23:13 > 0:23:17And with his observations of hydrogen in the space between galaxies,
0:23:17 > 0:23:21he laid the foundation for an entire new field,
0:23:21 > 0:23:26studying how matter is organised in the universe at the largest scales.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29Wal is among the best of his generation
0:23:29 > 0:23:31in observational astronomy.
0:23:31 > 0:23:35He needs a big telescope because he couldn't do it
0:23:35 > 0:23:38without the best big telescopes around,
0:23:38 > 0:23:41but he is extremely good at thinking of what is important
0:23:41 > 0:23:43and what will be important.
0:23:45 > 0:23:46OK, guys, come along.
0:23:49 > 0:23:51Yes.
0:23:52 > 0:23:56I was up here one afternoon, looking at the weather,
0:23:56 > 0:23:58the prospects for the next night,
0:23:58 > 0:24:03and some tourists down below shouted up to me,
0:24:03 > 0:24:05"How did you get up there?"
0:24:05 > 0:24:08- Meaning...- How do we get up there.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13Yes, by what means of ladders or elevators or whatever.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17And I replied, "I studied bloody hard for 15 years!"
0:24:17 > 0:24:19LAUGHTER
0:24:21 > 0:24:24Isn't it amazing that we get paid to do this?
0:24:25 > 0:24:26It was wonderful.
0:24:35 > 0:24:39When I came here, I was supposed to be a theorist
0:24:39 > 0:24:41and after a few weeks,
0:24:41 > 0:24:44some of the post-docs who were observers
0:24:44 > 0:24:48took me up to the mountain to see what it was like
0:24:48 > 0:24:51and I found this absolutely entrancing.
0:24:52 > 0:24:54I loved it.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Sitting there in the dark,
0:24:56 > 0:24:59gently guiding the telescope
0:24:59 > 0:25:02and then...listening to music.
0:25:06 > 0:25:08The whole thing was very glamorous.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Well, I don't know whether it's a question of science and religion
0:25:33 > 0:25:37but I've found the notion that...
0:25:38 > 0:25:42..an all-powerful God would interfere
0:25:42 > 0:25:46with the progress of the world if I said a prayer,
0:25:46 > 0:25:48I found that pretty silly.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51So...
0:25:53 > 0:25:55And I would certainly back off
0:25:55 > 0:25:59to the point where I might believe in a God who set things going
0:25:59 > 0:26:03but then left things to work themselves out.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09I pray sometimes.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Not very often, but I pray.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17I think the evidence is not very strong...
0:26:18 > 0:26:21..but there we are, that's, er...
0:26:21 > 0:26:24And I was brought up in this tradition
0:26:24 > 0:26:27and I love some of the tradition, I think it's lovely.
0:26:28 > 0:26:32The idea that people should at least once in the week
0:26:32 > 0:26:37be taken out of themselves and made to think in a broader way,
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and away from their local lives,
0:26:40 > 0:26:44is actually rather important and, to me, I do that in church.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51Time only began at the instant that the universe is created
0:26:51 > 0:26:56so you could say that God only came into existence at that point,
0:26:56 > 0:26:59but that then doesn't deal with the fact
0:26:59 > 0:27:04that there has to be a before, in some sense, a prior.
0:27:05 > 0:27:09I think in terms of all processes being caused.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25The road trip continues on to a dry plateau 6,000 feet above sea level.
0:27:34 > 0:27:37The Very Large Array is a set of 27 antennae,
0:27:37 > 0:27:41each 25 metres in diameter,
0:27:41 > 0:27:44mounted on 60 kilometres of railway track.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Each dish weights 200 tonnes.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51Astronomers position them along the tracks to act as one dish
0:27:51 > 0:27:5336 kilometres in diameter.
0:27:56 > 0:28:00Donald excelled at explaining images radio observers produced.
0:28:00 > 0:28:04It was the first new window on the universe.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06I mean, we'd been looking really...
0:28:06 > 0:28:09in the...in the optical
0:28:09 > 0:28:13for hundreds of years and then,
0:28:13 > 0:28:19the radio astronomy opened a totally new way of looking at the universe.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29Astronomers mapped the radio sources in the sky
0:28:29 > 0:28:34and called them quasi stellar objects, or quasars.
0:28:34 > 0:28:36The first one they measured
0:28:36 > 0:28:41was 10 million million times brighter than the sun.
0:28:41 > 0:28:47A quasar is a large black hole surrounded by in-falling matter,
0:28:47 > 0:28:51some of which has been so heated in the process
0:28:51 > 0:28:54that it glows very, very bright
0:28:54 > 0:28:58and it outshines the rest of the galaxy in which it is in
0:28:58 > 0:29:02and it can be seen for incredible distances.
0:29:03 > 0:29:06Nothing actually comes out of a black hole.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10It has a very deep gravitational pull
0:29:10 > 0:29:13and therefore, as they swirl around,
0:29:13 > 0:29:15as they do in your bath when you pull the bath plug out,
0:29:15 > 0:29:17you get a swirling out
0:29:17 > 0:29:19and sometimes you get a great gurgling.
0:29:19 > 0:29:25That gurgling is the stuff getting so hot that it gives out light.
0:29:27 > 0:29:29Donald realised they were seeing
0:29:29 > 0:29:33discs of gas spinning around super massive black holes.
0:29:33 > 0:29:36Using his extraordinary mathematical skills,
0:29:36 > 0:29:39he developed a theory that there was a black hole
0:29:39 > 0:29:43at the centre of every big galaxy - including our own.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55You know, I was always reasonably good at mathematics
0:29:55 > 0:29:57but I wasn't good at anything else
0:29:57 > 0:30:00cos I couldn't read or found reading very hard.
0:30:00 > 0:30:02Most things involve reading
0:30:02 > 0:30:05and I think I was probably dyslexic.
0:30:05 > 0:30:09I always said to my parents that I would be a carpenter
0:30:09 > 0:30:12and that they didn't need to read.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14But they didn't agree with me.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18So they plotted the number of words I read each night on a graph
0:30:18 > 0:30:21and I understood graphs perfectly well.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24So they plotted the number of words I read each night on a graph
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and I wasn't allowed to go to sleep
0:30:27 > 0:30:31until I had read more this day than I had yesterday.
0:30:33 > 0:30:35As Donald tapped a love of mathematics
0:30:35 > 0:30:38that would lead to his career as a theoretician,
0:30:38 > 0:30:42Nick excited a free-ranging appetite for knowledge.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45I grew up in London,
0:30:45 > 0:30:48probably less supervision than people would have thought wise
0:30:48 > 0:30:51and actually, probably all the better for it!
0:30:53 > 0:30:55I wanted to be an explorer.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59The wonderful thing I remember as a child
0:30:59 > 0:31:02was being allowed to read anything.
0:31:02 > 0:31:05I would take a topic that I was interested in
0:31:05 > 0:31:10and I would read everything that I could about it as fast as I could,
0:31:10 > 0:31:12not worrying about whether I'd really understood it
0:31:12 > 0:31:16because I was just going to read more and more until finally
0:31:16 > 0:31:19it sort of gelled as to what it was all about.
0:31:19 > 0:31:20Then, after about two weeks,
0:31:20 > 0:31:24I would say, enough of this, let's go on to something else!
0:31:26 > 0:31:28On the next leg of the road trip,
0:31:28 > 0:31:31the friends set off for the University of Arizona,
0:31:31 > 0:31:34where Nick was a professor for 34 years.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Here he was part of a team tackling astronomy's next big problem -
0:31:46 > 0:31:51how to make an even bigger mirror than the Hale telescope at Palomar.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54This particular 12-sided stand
0:31:54 > 0:31:58can hold mirrors up to 8.4 metres diameter.
0:31:58 > 0:32:01This stand is also the only place in the mirror lab
0:32:01 > 0:32:04where we can turn a mirror upside down.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06You can get a crane and grab it at the top,
0:32:06 > 0:32:11pull to the centre and the whole thing will turn down.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15Over there is the furnace.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18The team developed a rotating furnace
0:32:18 > 0:32:21that pushes the molten glass into a natural dish.
0:32:23 > 0:32:26Casting the mirror takes just over four days.
0:32:28 > 0:32:30How long does it take to cool?
0:32:30 > 0:32:32Three or four months.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34So, it's a long time in the oven.
0:32:37 > 0:32:38You ought to see this side.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41The side is interesting.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44Unfortunately I can't turn it round for you
0:32:44 > 0:32:48because if you drop it, it's a lot of years of bad luck.
0:32:55 > 0:32:58Now we are coming to the polishing lab.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04Each mirror takes two years to polish.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08The one here with the really shiny surface
0:33:08 > 0:33:12is the first mirror for the Giant Magellan Telescope
0:33:12 > 0:33:16and then the one behind is the mirror, will be the mirror,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19for the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25The quality of surface you can get out of a milling machine
0:33:25 > 0:33:30is good to about a 10,000th part of an inch.
0:33:30 > 0:33:32We are making these mirrors
0:33:32 > 0:33:37with a surface quality of two-thirds of one millionth of an inch.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43Nick has made many contributions to astronomy.
0:33:43 > 0:33:46He built the first multiple mirror telescope,
0:33:46 > 0:33:50pioneered adaptive optics to make telescope images sharper,
0:33:50 > 0:33:53and devised an instrument for NASA
0:33:53 > 0:33:56to find earth-like planets orbiting other stars.
0:33:56 > 0:34:01I never realised what I was doing, I just did it.
0:34:01 > 0:34:04I don't even feel that I'm in control of the rudder,
0:34:04 > 0:34:07it steers itself.
0:34:07 > 0:34:10What I have to do is pull on the oars!
0:34:11 > 0:34:15It's because I am connecting things all the time and asking questions,
0:34:15 > 0:34:18how does this fit with that?
0:34:18 > 0:34:21So when I go off in some weird direction,
0:34:21 > 0:34:25it is because that's where it led
0:34:25 > 0:34:27and I ought to understand it a bit better
0:34:27 > 0:34:30and so I can pursue it until I get bored
0:34:30 > 0:34:33and then something else turns up that is equally interesting
0:34:33 > 0:34:35and moves me in another direction.
0:34:37 > 0:34:42Nick also looked for suitable mountains for building observatories.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45Mount Graham was the best one he found.
0:34:45 > 0:34:47Beautiful view of Mount Graham there.
0:34:47 > 0:34:52Yeah. It is a pretty amazing view of a mountain.
0:34:52 > 0:34:54We don't have views like that in England.
0:34:54 > 0:34:56It's quite snowy.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58We'll never get up there!
0:34:58 > 0:35:02A spade, to dig the car out of the snow.
0:35:02 > 0:35:05No, we haven't got a spade for digging.
0:35:05 > 0:35:08Maybe it would have been a good idea, I don't know.
0:35:08 > 0:35:13But there are a lot of strong men here, who are capable of pushing.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28The front wheels are not driving.
0:35:42 > 0:35:46It's curious because on the trip to Rainbow Bridge,
0:35:46 > 0:35:48we got the car stuck.
0:35:48 > 0:35:5050 years ago.
0:35:51 > 0:35:54There's a certain sense of deja vu.
0:35:57 > 0:35:59Hello, Mount Graham.
0:35:59 > 0:36:00Can I hear you?
0:36:02 > 0:36:03Hello?
0:36:05 > 0:36:07ENGINE REVS
0:36:22 > 0:36:24Well, congratulations.
0:36:26 > 0:36:28It's only just starting.
0:36:33 > 0:36:34But we're out of it.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36And now we'll go...
0:36:36 > 0:36:38It all makes for a good...
0:36:41 > 0:36:43They've made it to the top of the mountain
0:36:43 > 0:36:47and Nick can finally show his friends around the observatory.
0:36:47 > 0:36:49What is open are two doors.
0:36:49 > 0:36:51One in front of each mirror.
0:36:51 > 0:36:56And they will move out and leave a central strip here.
0:37:15 > 0:37:19- It's very like building battleships actually, isn't it?- Oh, yes.
0:37:26 > 0:37:29Hubble said the history of astronomy
0:37:29 > 0:37:31was the history of receding horizons.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37There would always be a horizon beyond which we could not see.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02The whole thing with astronauts has been a huge mistake.
0:38:02 > 0:38:06What should have been learned from the lunar landing
0:38:06 > 0:38:08is that you should not send people into space,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11you should send automatic equipment.
0:38:11 > 0:38:14And instead, the idiots kept sending humans up
0:38:14 > 0:38:17and the main thing you've got was a huge expense
0:38:17 > 0:38:20in getting the humans back alive, usually.
0:38:21 > 0:38:26If they put the money into remotely controlled equipment
0:38:26 > 0:38:29that was capable of taking care of itself,
0:38:29 > 0:38:32they would actually get the results
0:38:32 > 0:38:35and not have to worry about the humans.
0:38:35 > 0:38:37But it did advance technology.
0:38:37 > 0:38:39At the time, yes.
0:38:39 > 0:38:44And it did send children towards working in science.
0:38:45 > 0:38:47Putting people on the moon is interesting
0:38:47 > 0:38:49the first time you do it,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51much less interesting the second time
0:38:51 > 0:38:54and by the time you've reached the third one,
0:38:54 > 0:38:57even if you've got new devices up there, it's a yawner.
0:39:02 > 0:39:04Ah, well.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12There's a decent chance that there are
0:39:12 > 0:39:15about 10 billion planets in this galaxy
0:39:15 > 0:39:18that might have life develop on them.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21And there are about 100 billion galaxies
0:39:21 > 0:39:23spread through the universe,
0:39:23 > 0:39:27and our success or failure
0:39:27 > 0:39:31is hopefully not important in the long run.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36We are just one of the many experiments necessary
0:39:36 > 0:39:39and somewhere, someone gets through.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47I think the first life that will be discovered
0:39:47 > 0:39:50will be of an extremely dull form.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53And will probably be bacterial.
0:39:53 > 0:39:58If you mean intelligent life, will we discover intelligent life,
0:39:58 > 0:40:01I think probably not within my lifetime.
0:40:01 > 0:40:03Possibly within yours.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06But how will we communicate?
0:40:06 > 0:40:09It will be extremely tiresome to communicate.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Hey, guys. Can you hear me?
0:40:24 > 0:40:26Yes. Yes, we can hear you.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28Who's the telescope operator tonight?
0:40:28 > 0:40:30It's Cynthia. Hi, Wal.
0:40:30 > 0:40:33Oh, hi, Cynthia. And the weather looks OK?
0:40:33 > 0:40:37- Yeah, it looks brilliant, I'd say. - Oh, good.
0:40:37 > 0:40:40Wal is demonstrating the remote observing room at Caltech.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46From here, he can observe using the Keck telescopes in Hawaii,
0:40:46 > 0:40:49some of the most powerful in the world.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Wal co-led the Keck development team
0:40:52 > 0:40:57and their work helped pave the way for a new generation of telescopes.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01- Should be in...?- Yeah, and Virgo rising is about right.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Wal is not continuing on the road trip.
0:41:05 > 0:41:06Although I'm not sure...
0:41:06 > 0:41:09He is staying behind to look after his health.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Wal is seriously ill
0:41:13 > 0:41:17and there are reasons for suspecting
0:41:17 > 0:41:20that he doesn't have a great deal of time ahead of him.
0:41:20 > 0:41:25None of us have a huge amount of time, but in Wal's case,
0:41:25 > 0:41:29it may well be considerably shorter than for the others.
0:41:30 > 0:41:33He is certainly thinking about it now.
0:41:33 > 0:41:37But he feels he's had a good life and he's not afraid of death.
0:41:38 > 0:41:42OK, so you lot are leaving tomorrow.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44- Yeah.- What time are you setting off?
0:41:44 > 0:41:47Ever so early in the morning. Crack of dawn.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53- Good to see you, Nick.- All the best with everything.
0:41:53 > 0:41:55Yeah. Yeah, thanks. I need it.
0:41:55 > 0:41:59He's in a difficult position and he understands it.
0:41:59 > 0:42:03And in some ways, he almost looks forward to this happening
0:42:03 > 0:42:07because he was dreading giving up astronomy
0:42:07 > 0:42:12and instead he's going to be able to work until the end.
0:42:15 > 0:42:17I think it's rather a good way to go.
0:42:36 > 0:42:38Death is part of life.
0:42:39 > 0:42:41It's an inevitable part of life.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46It's the way that new things get going.
0:42:46 > 0:42:50And you don't get cluttered by all this memory
0:42:50 > 0:42:52of what's gone on in the past.
0:42:53 > 0:42:58I don't really believe that old people should dominate the scene.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01I think younger people should dominate the scene.
0:43:03 > 0:43:07We learn things that are untrue and incomplete,
0:43:07 > 0:43:09ideas that have formed in our brain
0:43:09 > 0:43:12and are going to stay with us until we die.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16And so our dying, as a part of the process of those ideas going,
0:43:16 > 0:43:18is very important for humanity.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Evolution rarely occurs through death.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26There's not enough death in the species.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29That's right. But we haven't come to terms with it.
0:43:46 > 0:43:48The men's lifelong bond is built
0:43:48 > 0:43:50not only on their shared love of astronomy,
0:43:50 > 0:43:53but also their shared love of adventure.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58Whenever the chance arose, they would set off to explore,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01parking the car and heading out to the vast country,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03on foot, sometimes overnight.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08For the final stage of their 50th anniversary road trip,
0:44:08 > 0:44:10Roger and Donald take a break from astronomy
0:44:10 > 0:44:13and retrace their hike to Rainbow Bridge,
0:44:13 > 0:44:16their most memorable and challenging adventure.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21"From here, it is 1.4 miles to the ruins of Rainbow Lodge.
0:44:21 > 0:44:24"The track no longer resembles a road
0:44:24 > 0:44:27"and you'll need to engage your 4-wheel drive."
0:44:27 > 0:44:31This would pass for "no longer resembles a road".
0:44:31 > 0:44:33Yes. This is absolutely right.
0:44:33 > 0:44:36THEY LAUGH
0:44:37 > 0:44:39Hey, not so fast.
0:44:42 > 0:44:44OK. Right.
0:44:45 > 0:44:46Out we get.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51They are accompanied by Alison, the film-maker.
0:44:53 > 0:44:54There you are.
0:44:54 > 0:44:56Nick will pick them up by boat.
0:44:56 > 0:44:58We who are about to die...
0:44:58 > 0:45:00LAUGHTER
0:45:00 > 0:45:03OK, Nick. There we are.
0:45:03 > 0:45:04Good.
0:45:04 > 0:45:07All right. Come on, we must go.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10Rainbow Bridge, in a remote part of Utah,
0:45:10 > 0:45:13is the world's largest natural land bridge.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15Right.
0:45:15 > 0:45:17March. On we go.
0:45:20 > 0:45:22It was hot when we started out
0:45:22 > 0:45:26and we were all carrying quite heavy packs.
0:45:26 > 0:45:29Roger's natural pace is faster than the rest of us.
0:45:29 > 0:45:30So he went first.
0:45:33 > 0:45:36It wasn't done in any spirit of competition.
0:45:36 > 0:45:37It was purely a matter of convenience.
0:45:39 > 0:45:41My heart is as light as the pack is heavy.
0:45:41 > 0:45:44That's to say that the longer the hike I'm going on,
0:45:44 > 0:45:47the more exciting I think it's going to be.
0:45:47 > 0:45:50But it doesn't weigh on me every day and every minute
0:45:50 > 0:45:52that I'm over 70, you know?
0:45:53 > 0:45:57He always liked to outdo everybody else and be one up,
0:45:57 > 0:46:00and I'm for trying to stop him being one up.
0:46:01 > 0:46:03It was just part of Roger.
0:46:03 > 0:46:05He wanted to show that he was the best.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09- FILM-MAKER:- There is Roger, way ahead.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11Good.
0:46:19 > 0:46:21We've done one canyon.
0:46:21 > 0:46:26Though I think it should be said it's the easiest one, the first one.
0:46:28 > 0:46:30This trail is a mess.
0:46:30 > 0:46:33This movie is going to have a lot of heavy breathing in it.
0:46:41 > 0:46:441961, April 26.
0:46:45 > 0:46:49"Dear Mum, very hot with blazing sun.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52"There is a sort of rudimentary trail.
0:46:52 > 0:46:56"Not exactly well beaten, as few people visit Rainbow.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59"Having climbed into and out of three canyons,
0:46:59 > 0:47:02"each some hundreds of feet deep, we kept stopping to rest.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04"It was frightfully hot.
0:47:04 > 0:47:07"And very uphill. And the trail seemed interminable.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10"It seemed a hugely long way."
0:47:12 > 0:47:15The description of it rings pretty true, doesn't it?
0:47:15 > 0:47:18I mean, it's quite like that now.
0:47:20 > 0:47:21My feet are killing me.
0:47:23 > 0:47:26We walked a lot quicker in those days.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29I think it can't have been as difficult then as it is now.
0:47:29 > 0:47:32The trail must have been in somewhat better shape.
0:47:33 > 0:47:36I suppose we have to admit that we are getting old.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Well, that's true.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40And I enjoy it!
0:47:40 > 0:47:41Oh, I don't.
0:47:42 > 0:47:43I'll come in a moment.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00I hope he doesn't find he's bitten off more than he can chew.
0:48:00 > 0:48:01I don't know what we'll do if he has.
0:48:03 > 0:48:04I can't carry him.
0:48:09 > 0:48:12I run the London Marathon every year.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16When you're 70, if you run it in five hours,
0:48:16 > 0:48:18you can get an automatic entry for the next year.
0:48:18 > 0:48:22And I still did it in 3.57 last April.
0:48:23 > 0:48:25More than an hour in hand.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28I could stop at a cafe and have a leisurely lunch halfway round
0:48:28 > 0:48:31and still make it. In fact, it would make it easier to do that,
0:48:31 > 0:48:33but I don't think it would be sporting.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39- Got it?- OK.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41- Thanks.- You're welcome.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47Is this where we're staying?
0:48:47 > 0:48:49Yes, we can have a fire.
0:48:53 > 0:48:55Man! Thank you.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43- It's spring.- Oh!- It's spring.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48Right.
0:49:48 > 0:49:50It is bright and spring.
0:49:50 > 0:49:52It's a good spring morning there.
0:49:52 > 0:49:54Where's your alarm clock?
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Are you being an alarm clock?
0:49:56 > 0:49:58Yes, I am.
0:50:03 > 0:50:04All right.
0:50:09 > 0:50:11- Morning, Roger.- Morning.
0:50:26 > 0:50:27Oh, dear.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33I'm going the wrong way, let's try the right way.
0:50:35 > 0:50:36Do you see the path anywhere?
0:50:38 > 0:50:39That's not a trail.
0:50:41 > 0:50:43Don't you think that looks like a trail?
0:50:44 > 0:50:46Where did Donald go anyway?
0:50:46 > 0:50:52No sooner is the hike back on track than something unexpected happens.
0:50:52 > 0:50:55Oh, getting enfeebled my old age.
0:50:55 > 0:50:57How old are you, Roger?
0:50:57 > 0:50:5876.
0:51:00 > 0:51:04Donald's 76, but he doesn't run marathons.
0:51:05 > 0:51:06Yeah.
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Do you think I should make up my mind to it and sort of...
0:51:11 > 0:51:12..give in?
0:51:12 > 0:51:15No. I think you should just keep going.
0:51:15 > 0:51:17Ignore your age.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21There's some aspects of it I can't ignore.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23That's true for all of us.
0:51:27 > 0:51:32When I was a student and I was late going for a train
0:51:32 > 0:51:35and I had to run for it,
0:51:35 > 0:51:39I could remember wondering, whatever will I do when I'm 50?
0:51:39 > 0:51:40I shall miss the train.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44But somehow I've sort of been putting it off.
0:51:46 > 0:51:47But you don't seem old to me.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51Oh, thank you, Alison.
0:51:58 > 0:51:59Onward.
0:52:02 > 0:52:04It certainly is an amazing place.
0:52:37 > 0:52:38Fantastic.
0:52:40 > 0:52:42Don't you think it's fantastic?
0:52:42 > 0:52:44It's fantastic scenery.
0:52:46 > 0:52:50It makes one feel great to be alive, to be honest, doesn't it?
0:52:50 > 0:52:52Even if it's hard work.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56We look a bit small compared with the landscape.
0:53:02 > 0:53:03There it is.
0:53:05 > 0:53:06There it is.
0:53:07 > 0:53:09That's Rainbow Bridge.
0:53:09 > 0:53:11So it is.
0:53:20 > 0:53:22No problems, Nick.
0:53:22 > 0:53:23Just late as usual.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26Doctor Livingstone, I presume.
0:53:26 > 0:53:27Stanley, I presume.
0:53:30 > 0:53:32Come on.
0:53:32 > 0:53:34We're very glad to see you.
0:53:34 > 0:53:36We were a little worried.
0:53:37 > 0:53:41We tried to ring from the top of the canyon.
0:53:41 > 0:53:42It didn't work.
0:53:44 > 0:53:46But actually we had a good trip.
0:53:46 > 0:53:48- Good.- No problems.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54It was a relief.
0:53:54 > 0:53:57Thank God I can put down my pack.
0:53:59 > 0:54:00Well, I was pleased to have made it
0:54:00 > 0:54:04but I didn't have much doubt when we started that I'd be able to make it.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06I mean, I'm not giving to sort of
0:54:06 > 0:54:10dancing about and congratulating myself on anything.
0:54:10 > 0:54:15Because the next thing that happens is a fall, you know.
0:54:15 > 0:54:17Pride goeth before a fall.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26It's difficult to grasp how big it is when you just see it in a picture.
0:54:26 > 0:54:28It's about 300 feet high and wide.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34I would have liked to stand on it like I did before.
0:54:34 > 0:54:38But there didn't seem to be much prospect of doing that.
0:54:39 > 0:54:41It's not allowed.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43Are you sure it's not allowed?
0:54:43 > 0:54:44Yes, absolutely sure.
0:54:48 > 0:54:52I offer you a toast to Athenaeum Enterprises.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58It's a great enjoyment to go hiking with friends.
0:54:58 > 0:55:00To the future.
0:55:02 > 0:55:03Thank you.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13The numbers in astronomy, as you know, are very big.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15It is easy to appreciate...
0:55:18 > 0:55:19..a tenth of a second
0:55:19 > 0:55:23and if you're a photographer, you might even...
0:55:23 > 0:55:27or a runner, you might even appreciate a hundredth of a second.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33How many hundredths of a second are there in a year?
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Well, that's quite a big number actually.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41And if you think about it, there are about 30 million seconds in a year.
0:55:41 > 0:55:44So that's three times ten to the seven.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48100th of a second, that's three times ten to the nine.
0:55:48 > 0:55:54And if you ask about 100 years, that's three times ten to the 11,
0:55:54 > 0:55:57which is very like the number of stars in the galaxy.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02And that's very like the number of galaxies in the universe too.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06Are you afraid of death?
0:56:06 > 0:56:08Are you worried about it?
0:56:09 > 0:56:12Er...no, I'm not worried about it.
0:56:14 > 0:56:17I can't see any purpose in being worried about it.
0:56:18 > 0:56:20But I'm not looking forward to it.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22I'm a Christian.
0:56:22 > 0:56:27And...I therefore believe,
0:56:27 > 0:56:30in principle, in eternal life,
0:56:30 > 0:56:32but I wonder what you'd do with eternal life.
0:56:32 > 0:56:35It seems to me that...
0:56:35 > 0:56:38you know, eternity is a very long time
0:56:38 > 0:56:41and I don't know what you'd do all the time.
0:56:43 > 0:56:46I can't believe that they have telescopes in heaven.
0:56:47 > 0:56:49But I don't know what they do have.
0:56:52 > 0:56:55What did you learn from a lifetime observing the universe?
0:57:06 > 0:57:07Wow!
0:57:09 > 0:57:11Somebody once said
0:57:11 > 0:57:15that the most remarkable feature of the universe
0:57:15 > 0:57:18is that it is comprehensible,
0:57:18 > 0:57:22that somehow, with these ideas of cause and effect,
0:57:22 > 0:57:26we can go through and make sense of all the parts of it
0:57:26 > 0:57:29that we have observed and see how they all fit together.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35Curiosity is a necessary part of survival.
0:57:35 > 0:57:40And the thing that I like most about life is being able to ask questions.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48The question is always the same one -
0:57:48 > 0:57:50what the hell is out there?