University Medal 2018: Roger Stapleton
Thursday 6 December 2018
Vice-Chancellor, it is my privilege to present Roger Stapleton for the University Medal.
The long dark nights of winter present a number of opportunities to the St Andrews’ student. I am sure that each of our graduates this afternoon can look back on a variety of nocturnal pursuits that were memorable, enjoyable, or perhaps best forgotten.
For the last 50 years, Roger Stapleton has been participant and great supporter of our most outward-looking nocturnal activity. I am referring, of course, to observational astronomy. Roger’s contribution to the University has enabled generations of students, of researchers, of academic staff to observe and understand the universe, to discover new worlds orbiting other stars, to boldly go where no one has gone before!
Roger first graduated from the University of St Andrews 50 years ago in 1968, with a BSc degree in Mathematics, Physics and Computational Science. He then immediately re-enrolled in the Honours programme of Astronomy, to graduate for a second time two years later.
Following five years as a programmer in the University’s new computer laboratory, Roger returned to the Observatory as a Research Assistant, then Scientific Officer in the Department of Astronomy. He subsequently worked as Senior Scientific Officer in the School of Physics & Astronomy up until his early retirement in 2004.
During those 29 years, Roger established the scientific computing networks for the School, developed the computer control software for the Observatory’s telescopes, and archived their data. Together with his wife Fiona Vincent, Roger was the backbone of our School’s outreach programmes, delivering a decade of events with the Starlab planetarium.
Throughout this time, Roger kept the School at the forefront of computer network technology. From the University’s first network — the Cambridge ring — (which, while state-of-the-art of its day, was still slower than transporting the data along North Street by bicycle), through to the modern day optical fibre networks (of which he personally laid the branch to the telescopes from offcuts salvaged from the main installation).
Since retiring in 2004, Roger has volunteered on a near daily basis at the Observatory. He has taken on the major endeavour to maintain and upgrade the James Gregory Telescope. This is Scotland's largest telescope, standing more than six metres tall with a primary mirror almost a metre wide. It has a unique optical system designed, built, and used by St Andrews astronomers since the early 1960s, but by the late ‘90s was seriously outdated. A large telescope like the James Gregory, located at the University, offers fantastic opportunities for students to learn observational techniques, for researchers to gain valuable data and for the public to understand what we do. There is little doubt that without Roger's dedication and skilled work, the University would have lost that facility.
Instead, the telescope has become a powerful tool for astronomy in the twenty-first century. In particular, Roger has managed to add a digital control system, an autoguider, dome tracking and remote camera control, while keeping the old core intact. This is an outstanding engineering achievement and has required painstaking, elaborate work on electrics, software, and mechanics.
As a result, the telescope is used regularly by both researchers and students. In the last decade, it has contributed to the discovery of exoplanets, to the study of young stars, to investigations of minor planets, and is in line to become a part of the UK Space Agency's infrastructure for the monitoring of space debris. All these projects were made possible by Roger's dedicated work.
Vice-Chancellor, in recognition of his outstanding service to the University of St Andrews, I invite you to present Roger Stapleton with the University Medal.
Professor Graham Turnbull
School of Physics and Astronomy