• Question: What would you consider to be the most important piece of technology that helps present scientists in the research and development of science?

    Asked by aoifeomara to Arlene, Colin, David, Eugene, Paul on 10 Nov 2012.
    • Photo: Paul Higgins

      Paul Higgins answered on 10 Nov 2012:

      Well for astrophysics in particular: computers and computer programming. I receive data (mostly images of the Sun) from space craft instruments (the ones I use are basically really fancy digital cameras that cost millions of euro). Then I look at the images on my computer and decide what information I want to get out of them. I have to write a computer program to filter the images (i.e., get rid of noise) and “calibrate” them so that, for instance, I know what distance in the image corresponds to 1 meter. Then I have to write more programs to actually analyse the images in a particular way, to answer a question I am asking. If I want to know how many sunspots are on the Sun’s surface, I have to write a program to find and count sunspots.
      But, I think the internet is becoming the most important technology. People are starting to use “web services” to analyse their data, instead of using their own computers. This is like using an app on your phone to look something up on google. Google is not on your phone, it is on the internet, but you are getting the answer on your phone. Right now, people are building a google for science research! I am involved with a couple of these projects:
      HELIO: http://helio-vo.eu/science.php (I can search for data and events associated with the Sun)
      Helio Events Knowledgebase (HEK): http://www.lmsal.com/isolsearch (what is on the Sun right now?)

    • Photo: David McKeown

      David McKeown answered on 11 Nov 2012:

      Computers!

      Computers have made things which where impossible 20 years ago, easy to do now and so much faster!

      Nearly all computers are now connected together, which wasn’t always the way.The world wide web was only founded in 1990, we wouldn’t have been able to “I am a scientist” before then, so we wouldn’t have been able to answer your questions or do live chats. (well we could have written letters and posted them, but that would take ages!). They make connecting with people easy and the world a smaller place. Lots of scientists will work with other teams from all around the world and share their work using the internet.

      Computers allow me make detailed models of spacecraft and if I need to make changes it is easy to delete a bit or add a bit. In the past all the drawings would have had to been done by hand and all the mathematics my computer solves would have been done by a team of people on paper. Now that would be a real headache. Remind me to hug my computer.

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