paul.abel@yahoo.co.uk

Research Interests:

• General Relativity
• Hawking Radiation
• Quantum Field Theory in Curved Spacetimes.
• Visual Lunar and Planetary Observation.

Biography:

     I came to Leicester in 1999 as an undergraduate to study Mathematics for an MMATH degree which I finished in 2004.  After I graduated, I embarked on a PhD in Cosmology at the University of Sheffield.  Alas, this proved to be a “false start”, and a year later I returned a year later to do a PhD under Prof. Derek Raine in General Relativity.

      My main duty on the I-Science degree is teaching the support mathematics courses which I helped to develop along with Prof. Raine.

      Astronomy plays a big part in my life, and I have been an amateur astronomer since the age of 12. I have an 8 inch Newtonian reflector permanently set up in my observatory in Leicester, where I make frequent observations of the Moon and planets.  Unlike most amateurs, I’m a visual observer and I prefer to draw what I see at the eyepiece rather than image it.  As you can imagine, I make good use of the University’s 20 inch telescope- made available to the University thanks to grant money obtained by Prof. Raine.

      I have written many articles for popular astronomy magazines, and I was greatly honored when, in 2009, Sir Patrick Moore (who has been a good friend for many years) invited me to become a co-presenter on the BBC’s Sky at Night- the very program which got me started in astronomy many years ago!  Promoting astronomy and science is something I feel very strongly about, and I regularly give talks to various astronomical societies, and speak at various astronomical events.  

      I am currently assistant director of the Saturn section of the British Astronomical Association, and I am a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.       

    Should you have any questions or enquires,  then please do get in touch!