A.P. Fairall (1943–2008)

Patrick Woudt

doi:10.4102/sajs.v105i1/2.23

Abstract

Anthony (Tony) Patrick Fairall was born in London on 15 September 1943, but together with his family, moved to Johannesburg in 1948 and later to Salisbury (now Harare) in 1953. It was there at Prince Edward School where Tony became interested in astronomy, in which he was later inspired to pursue a career by the popular works of Sir Patrick Moore. His career started at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with an undergraduate degree in Physics (1963-1965), summer jobs at the Royal Observatory of the Cape of Good Hope under the supervision of its chief assistant David Evans, and a B.Sc. honours project on 'Quasars and Quasistellar Galaxies' in 1966 at UCT under the guidance of the observatory's director, Her Majesty's Astronomer at the Cape, Richard Stoy.

Highlights

His career started at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with an undergraduate degree in Physics (1963–1965), summer jobs at the Royal Observatory of the Cape of Good Hope under the supervision of its chief assistant David Evans, and a B.Sc. honours project on ‘Quasars and Quasistellar Galaxies’ in 1966 at UCT under the guidance of the observatory’s director, Her Majesty’s Astronomer at the Cape, Richard Stoy
Fairall exchanged the familiar surroundings of Cape Town for Austin, where he continued his postgraduate studies at the University of Texas
He worked with two of the most famous astronomers of the time, and unusual characters of note: the Frenchman Gerard de Vaucouleurs and the Swiss astronomer Fritz Zwicky. Both de Vaucouleurs and Zwicky were at the forefront of modern astronomy with their ‘often controversial, though groundbreaking’ ideas of the universe on large scales

Summary

Introduction

His career started at the University of Cape Town (UCT) with an undergraduate degree in Physics (1963–1965), summer jobs at the Royal Observatory of the Cape of Good Hope under the supervision of its chief assistant David Evans, and a B.Sc. honours project on ‘Quasars and Quasistellar Galaxies’ in 1966 at UCT under the guidance of the observatory’s director, Her Majesty’s Astronomer at the Cape, Richard Stoy. Fairall exchanged the familiar surroundings of Cape Town for Austin, where he continued his postgraduate studies at the University of Texas. Both de Vaucouleurs and Zwicky were at the forefront of modern astronomy with their ‘often controversial, though groundbreaking’ ideas of the universe on large scales.

Results

Conclusion