Geoffrey
O. Okeng'o
7/12/2014
As
the frenzy Xmas season beckons and the spirit of early celebrations
begins to thaw this year's festive season's ice-berg, the beautiful
city of Capetown is undoubtedly the place to be. On landing at the
magnificent Capetown International airport, one is ushered in by an
easy air of freshness and ambience that has been the trademark of
the proud South African theme of Ubuntu- simply
translated to mean “humanity for others”. Being over a month
since my five-year stay in Capetown came to an end, returning to
Capetown early this week to present at the Annual Square Kilometer
Array (SKA) bursary conference, could have not come at a better time.
Firstly, the excitement of “returning home” to meet my “family”
of many young and experienced scientists who have shaped my
scientific and social niche over the years is unbeatable. Secondly,
being summer in Capetown- for those who know- nothing beats the
opportunity to dress light and “step” out in the scorching sun
and for those that partake, sipping away your favorite cold drink is
just but a human right. Truth.
Today
marks the fourth day of a 5-day annual scientific extravaganza
underway at the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Studies (STIAS),
organized by the South African SKA project. This year's conference
according to Prof Leeuw Lerothodi of the School of Graduate Studies
University of South Africa (UNISA), “brings together over 100 PhD,
Msc and postdoctoral fellows, their supervisors, representatives from
the 8 African countries including Kenya, Mozambique, Zambia,
Madagascar, Mauritius, Ghana, Botswana, and distinguished
international scientists to interact and present their work on the
mega SKA project”. The SKA project comprises of international
efforts to build what will the the world's largest radio telescope
co-hosted by Africa and Australia. With a combined collecting area
equal to a square kilometre single dish aperture, the SKA , once
completed, will be an extremely powerful instrument that will monitor
the sky with unprecedented accuracy achieving speeds up to a thousand
times faster than any currently existing instrument.
According
to Prof Justin Jonas, the SKA project associate director the idea of
bidding to host the SKA in African soil was floated over 14 years ago
by a senior member in the South African Department of Science and
Technology, and culminated in the launch of the SKA Human Capital
Development Programme in 2005 which until today has awarded over 600
grants to students from undergraduate to postdoctoral level. The SA
SKA HCD programme has also seen the launch of an ambitious technician
training programme for students from South Africa and her 8 SKA
partner countries and also supported introduction of astronomy
teaching in Kenya, Mozambique, Mauritius and Madagascar (see
www.ska.ac.za).
With
the first seven dishes of the MeerKAT telescope- a prototype of the
SKA- complete and having produced the first radio images, Africa
continues to attract huge international interest and has indeed
demonstrated her remarkable scientific and engineering skills. Africa
has not only shown the world her capability to build a world-class
facility such as the SKA, but is also on track to becoming a
destination of choice for pioneering scientific discovery! The plane
is on the runaway and ready for take off...
