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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 18h

😡 I have a similar internal black list, but for academics..... indeed I think all female academics keep such a list 💪

Reposted by Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans

"I have to emphasise how lucky I was. Because when we started this project, everybody realised this was maybe a good idea, but very few thought it would work, including myself." A wonderfully modest quote from Nobel Prize winning Prof Francis Halzen. 🔭 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

bbc.co.uk

'Ghost particles' from space telescope wins 2026 Nobel Prize in Physics

Belgian physicist Prof Francis Halzen has won for his pioneering work on an observatory that detects particles from space.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 20h

Oh wow - but now you've got to feel for the people who were told they were successful, who have now told the decision has been suspended..... what an utter mess. Full kudos to @resprofnews.bsky.social for covering this important story. We'll be lost without them when they close ☹️

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Fear not I will make yours and am excited to finally meet in the real world 🥳

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

🔊Alright #London! Some Queens & Kings from BlueSky 🔭Astro are coming to visit y'all next week! #NewScientistLive 😎 Sa 10 Oct: @chanda.blacksky.app & @chrislintott.bsky.social 😎 Su 11 Oct: @dreochapman.bsky.social, @jimalkhalili.bsky.social et moi 🤗 ℹ️: live.newscientist.com/2026-talks-p...

New Scientist Live "One week to go"
10-12Oct 2026, Excel London and online
A man looking slightly nervous in goggles and a microphone is experimenting with a large flame of fire.

Join me at New Scientist Live
The Universe: Reality or Simulation?
Catherine is looking unusually glamorous while laughing at the camera.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I don't have a mobile phone - so this is with my laptop.... The train is now super full!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

A member of the train catering staff just made a special trip to our carriage, because the other staff told her about our friendly train-dog. Dog has been rewarded for his awesomeness with a piece of LNER ham. He is very pleased with himself - the wagging tail is moving so fast it's a blur 😍

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

I heard about this trick! Apparently once dropped, one never drops them again though 😃

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Train dog update: I am now covered in dog slobber, as he decided he needed to rest his head in my lap for 10 whole mins and then decided I needed my entire hand licked..... He's now walking up and down the aisle with his tail wagging so hard it's bashing all the chairs on the way 😂

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Reposted by Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans

Dr Lori-Ann Foley @lafoley.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

And finished! This is a really great book that explains the physics so well — easy to understand for all levels. An interesting and fun read. (I lol’ed when the programming chapter started with CH saying she wasn’t old enough to have ever used computer cards … but I am and did 👵 😆)

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Oh wow - that was fast reading! I'm so v happy it got the Dr Foley seal of approval! @mikechristie.bsky.social also spat his tea out in disgust when I said that punch cards were from the Middle Ages 😂

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

On the "Highland Chieftain" heading south back to Edinburgh after a lovely 4-day book tour around the 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿North East and there is the most loveliest of dogs on board who is greeting everyone in turn. The whole train carriage is smiling. 🥰

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

In tales of managing life in a world of AI-slop: Publisher: "What great news about the book club - can you reply asap" Me: 🤷‍♀️🤔 I'm just on auto-delete now as the book club AI-spam e-mails are relentless. Turns out there are some genuine ones out there though... who knew 🫠

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

💯 - I'm now super suspicious when people have a ridiculous number of papers....

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

As arXiv announces a new submission rate limit policy, I refer anyone who is up in arms about it to👇Hogg 2026👇. I'm so confused who would want to submit so much slop? For me (both writing and hiring) it's always been about quality over quantity, every single time. 🧪⚛️ blog.arxiv.org/2026/10/01/u...

blog.arxiv.org

Fair Moderation, Equitable Access, and AI: arXiv’s Updated Rate Limit Policy

arXiv, and the scientific community at large, are facing a watershed moment. Scholarly publishing is currently changing at a rapid pace, and we are seeing a…

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Who is regularly submitting 2 papers a month? That is clearly going to be low quality 😵‍💫

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

🥳 New Observatory alert! (Yes, she cuts ribbons!) Huge congratulations to Dr Charles Wang and all the wonderful #Aberdeen University team who have built the brand new Anne Cruickshank Observatory! 🔭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ℹ️: www.abdn.ac.uk/news/26204/ 🎥: Dave Galloway NorthSound1

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just heading off to meet P6 of Hillside Primary in Aberdeen this morning. I'll be helping them get ready for tonight's 100hours stargazing challenge. Amazingly the weather Gods appear to be on our side with clear skies forecast up North tonight!🤞🔭 👇Join in with stargazers across the entire globe!

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

It's been 7 months since I gave evidence at the UKGov select committee hearing, on the policy changes at UKRI which have had a catastrophic impact on funding for UK astronomy and particle physics. When asked if we thought we were the "canary in the coal mine", we said yes..... we weren't wrong. 🧪🔭⚛️

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

🥳 Alfredo has finished the book & he liked it ☺️ On pitching the idea, most replied "could you write a book about just the things you're the expert on, you know Dark Matter - Lean more into the traditional pop-sci genre?" So glad Bloomsbury allowed me to write and style the book I wanted to read!🙏

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

A whole £5 - I really should reply to say thank you. It's the only polite thing to do really isn't it.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

🤷‍♀️ Seemed very nice in the letter, so I'm taking it as an intended lovely gift.

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

One additional 'quick fact': if your name is John, the Nobel committee is twice as likely to award you the Prize for Physics, compared to scientists who are female - Number of physics prizes to a John: 10 - Number of female physics Nobel laureates: 5 Best wishes to all the John-hopefuls this yr 👩‍🔬⚛️

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Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I got sent a lump of concrete in the post the other day, with a handwritten message "Is this of interest?" Ha! Take that AI, and your farm of AI-slop! The astronomer royal still gets real mail from lovely people and I'm so delighted they still want to share their mad wonderful weird world with me 🤗

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