Book launch reveals SKAO origins

BY MATTHEW TAYLOR (SKAO)

A new book charting the history of the SKA project was launched at SKAO HQ on 8 July.

The Square Kilometre Array, A Science Mega-Project in the Making, 1990-2012 was written by former International Director of the SKA Prof. Richard Schilizzi, Prof. Ron Ekers, Dr Peter Dewdney and Dr Phil Crosby.

“What we’ve attempted to do in the book is capture what things were done right, what things didn’t work out so well, and why,” said Prof. Schilizzi.

Arranged around the themes of global collaboration, science case, engineering design, site selection, and industry engagement, the book covers the prehistory of the project and its foundations at the 1990 IAU Colloquium 131, progressing through to the site selection in 2012.

Reflecting on the SKAO’s foundations, Prof. Schilizzi said: “When you think about the SKA and the different national funding cycles and different cultural approaches to science and decision making that were involved in the collaboration, as well as its technical complexity, it’s amazing that it worked at all, let alone ending up with the SKAO as an intergovernmental organisation with construction underway.”

Former Chair of the Board of Directors of the SKA Organisation (the SKAO’s forerunner), John Womersley, wrote the book’s foreword and also gave a short talk at the book launch.

He said: “This is a story about how a grand vision is becoming a reality.

“It takes enthusiasm, commitment and continued belief to take something like this forward, but the lessons that we’ve learned give me great faith, and being here and seeing this project move forward is hugely inspirational to those of us who’ve been involved in it up to this point.”

The book is published by Springer and is available to download or buy in hardcover here

The book is published by Springer and is available to download or buy in hardcover here.