- Arthur Bleksley
Arthur Edward Herbert Bleksley (1908-1984), was a South African Professor of
Applied Mathematics and an astronomer.Bleksley was born in the Eastern Cape and attended the Outeniqua High School in George.cite book | last = Burnton
first = Ruth
title = The Work of Arthur E. H. Bleksley: A Bibliography
date = 1970
location = Johannesburg ] After matriculation he studied atStellenbosch University and graduated "cum laude " in 1927 and went on to obtain his M.Sc. in 1929, winning the Van der Horst Prize. In 1930 he joined the Solar Research Station run by theNational Geographic Society and theSmithsonian Institution at Brukkaros, the caldera of an extinct volcano inSouth West Africa . American researcherWilliam H. Hoover and his colleagueFrederick Atwood Greeley , ran an observatory on the mountain from 1926 to December 1931, collecting solar radiation data so as to find a correlation with the earth’s weather. To this end detailed observations were made of theSolar Constant . High-altitude observatories were set up at various locations -Mount Montezuma inChile , initially at Mount Harqua Hala inArizona (later moved to Table Mountain inCalifornia ) and lastly Mount Brukkaros, a site selected byCharles Greeley Abbot , and later moved to Mount St. Katherine on theSinai peninsula . The Brukkaros observatory consisted of a 10m deep tunnel in the flank of the mountain. A solar telescope orcoelostat at the mouth of the tunnel passed sunlight to aspectrograph , anÅngström compensationpyrheliometer and abolometer further in.In 1932 Bleksley was appointed as Junior Lecturer in the Department of Applied Mathematics at the
University of Witwatersrand , eventually becoming head of the department. Whilst there he worked on and completed his doctoral thesis "A Statistical and Analytical Study of the Phenomenon of Long-period Stellar Variability". During this period he took sabbatical leave and studied underSir Arthur Eddington at Cambridge, ProfessorHans Ludendorff of the Astrophysical Observatory at Potsdam andEjnar Hertzsprung at Leiden. He was President of theAstronomical Society of Southern Africa in 1948/49 and one of about 100 people who attended the founding of the [http://www.saip.org.za/ SA Institute of Physics] on 7 July 1955.Bleksley showed great interest in
parapsychology and in 1969 attended a conference atSaint-Paul de Vence in France. The conference dealt with creativity and its possible links to parapsychology. Other participants includedKenneth Burke , Eugenio Gaddini, the Italian psychoanalyst, Jerre Mangione, the Italian-American author, Emilio Servadio, the Italian-Indian psychoanalyst and parapsychologist andW. Grey Walter , the neurophysiologist and robotician.He was talented musically and performed as church organist while still a scholar. His gift of being able to articulate difficult concepts in the fields of astronomy and applied mathematics, made him a popular tutor and inspired thousands of students who sat through his exceptionally lucid lectures. His sense of humour, quick mind and broad range of interests, made him a valued member of the team of "Three Wise Men" on the
Springbok Radio quiz show, "Test the Team", from 1957 into the 1980s, the other two being Grant Louden and Eric Rosenthal.cite book
last = McCormack
first = Dewar
title = The Perm Book of 'Test the Team'
date = 1994
pages = 226
publisher = Salty Print
location = Cape Town
isbn = 0620181656]Bibliography
External links
* [http://www.travelnews.com.na/index.php?fArticleId=767 Historic paths at Brukkaros Mountain]
* [http://www.saao.ac.za/assa/html/his-obs-brukkaros.html Astronomical Society of Southern Africa]
* [http://siarchives.si.edu/history/exhibits/historic/sao.htm Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory]
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,715354,00.html Harqua and Montezuma (TIME article)]
* [http://www.springbokradio.com/TESTTHETEAM.html "Test the Team" soundfile]
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