Personal Stories
Published in the RSAA Lunations
Vol1 Issue8 1–30 September 2020
Way back in 1990, when PhD students at Stromlo did three projects in their first year before starting their main project the following year, I did a project on OH-IR masers with the Parkes radio telescope. I enjoyed visiting the telescope, but I was not impressed with the idea of observing 24 hours a day, so I made sure that my next project was in the optical.
Three years earlier, I was a vacation summer student at Stromlo. Mike Bessell was my project supervisor. He probably does not remember me, because I did not do all that much. That was 1987, just before I started my final year in theoretical physics at the University of Melbourne. At the end of that very busy year, which contained several 8-hour open book exams (yes, I did pop over to Lygon Street to get some coffee during the middle of the exams), I took a two-year break to travel the world.
Sadly, the two houses I lived in at Stromlo during my PhD are now gone. House 4 was one of those prefab houses that was hard to keep warm. House 16 was a brick house higher up on the mountain that was owned by a very fat cat called Octave. With dinner parties, dessert clubs, and other events, there was more to do on the mountain than in Canberra.
I completed the PhD after four and a half years, well within the seven-year limit that was applicable back then. I then moved to Chile and worked for ESO for 14 years, first as an ESO fellow, and then as an ESO astronomer. I spent 4 year working at La Silla and 10 at Paranal.
These 14 years were wonderful and very rewarding. I learned a new language, I learned how to dance, and I travelled a lot. The work schedule at ESO was one week in Santiago, one week on the mountain, and one week of rest, which was usually spent travelling somewhere in Chile or Argentina.
I was very lucky during those years. I seemed to be in the right place at the right time on more than one occasion. I also had the honour to be the first astronomer to use both the NTT after it was refurbished and the VLT. The years at ESO were very formative. Many of the collaborations I have now were formed during those years, and Chile is as much a home for me as Australia is.
In 2010, I returned to Australia to take up a Future Fellowship at the AAO. The very next year, I went to Stockholm to watch Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt, and Adam Reiss receive the Noble prize in physics for the discovery of the accelerating universe. This was the highlight of my scientific career. There was a week of ceremonies, dinners, and parties (the photo below is of the Saul Perlmutter’s SCP team at one of the parties – white tie for the lads, of course). I returned to Australian several kilos heavier.
In 2018, after 24 years of being away, I returned to Mt Stromlo to take up the role of Siding Spring Director. I consider myself very lucky to be part of the Mt Stromlo community again, and I hope that I can provide those who are starting their careers the same opportunities I had.
Chris Lidman
