The Hubble Space Telescope: from dream to reality, by Prof Christopher Riley

The Hubble Space Telescope is the most famous scientific instrument in history; a triumph of human ingenuity and ambition. Conceived in the 1950s, the dream of an orbiting space observatory was a vision far beyond our capabilities at the dawn of the space age. Only through a collision of emerging technology, the stubborn tenacity of a generation of astronomers and the political will to commit to it, would the telescope be accomplished. Science writer and historian Professor Christopher Riley will tell the often surprising story of Hubble, and those who turned the dreams of decades into the scientific breakthrough of the century.

Christopher Riley is a science writer and film maker, specialising in science, engineering and history. His work has been celebrated by BAFTA, the US Television Academy, the Royal Television Society, the Sundance Institute and the Grierson Trust. He conceived and co-produced the multi-award winning Ron Howard feature documentary In the Shadow of the Moon, produced and directed the hit YouTube documentary recreation of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight First Orbit, and wrote and directed on the multi-award winning Will Smith / Darren Aronofsky National Geographic series One Strange Rock.

He produced the Grierson nominated Netflix feature documentary Fear of 13, directed the BBC’s BAFTA nominated The Girl who talked to Dolphins and wrote and directed on the recent PBS series Breakthroughs, narrated by actor Patrick Stewart.

Riley has a Ph.D. in planetary science from Imperial College and is Visiting Professor of Science & Media at the University of Lincoln’s School of Film & Media, in the UK. He wrote the best-selling ‘Apollo 11 owner’s workshop manual’ and is the author of ‘Where once we stood’, nominated for a 2020 Kate Greenaway Medal. He is currently making a documentary that’s following the COVID-19 vaccine team at Imperial College.

www.chris-riley.net https://www.theatticroom.com/shop

He is the author of ‘Where once we stood’ (https://harbourmoonpublishing.com/shop/ols/categories/wowsbook).

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