Dr. Paul Fellows: Once Around the Sun’s Sisters

A talk which looks at the question of whether the Sun was born as a solitary star and if not how we might find its sisters!

Paul leads the public observing events at the University of Cambridge and presents lectures on Cunard Queen Mary 2 and other ships on a frequent basis, his talks are always popular. Having borrowed a small telescope and seen the rings of Saturn for the first time aged 13 Paul went on to build his own 8in reflector and do the O-level in astronomy the following year. His undergraduate studies were in Natural Science at the University of Cambridge specialising in Spectroscopy after which he joined the university Computer Laboratory for his postgraduate degree. He worked on the first generation of home computers and lead the design of the RiscOS operating system for the ARM processor, including inventing the apps and icon bar user interface that has since spread to phones and computers across the world.

Paul was a pioneer of streaming video across the internet and twice a winner of the Queens award for Technology. In 2005 he was elected a Fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology and was recently given a lifetime achievement award by Emmanuel College Cambridge and was awarded the British Empire Medal for services to the public understanding of science and technology in the new years honours of 2025. Through this time he maintained his interest in astronomy and has lead the public observing events at the University for over 20 years giving hundreds of live presentations, lectures and planetarium shows. He teaches the introduction to astronomy course and leads the monthly “Cambridge young astronomers” events for younger children. He is also an elected Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society. Since 2016 he has been a lecturer on board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 and other ships and frequent presenter to clubs and societies as well as at the international astronomy show.

The meeting will also include a news item and a tour of the night sky.

We look forward to seeing you.