University of Groningen
Nowhere to hide: identifying AGN in the faint radio sky
Radcliffe, Jack Frederick
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Publication date: 2019
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Radcliffe, J. F. (2019). Nowhere to hide: identifying AGN in the faint radio sky. University of Groningen.
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Acknowledgements
This section of the thesis is reserved for those people who made this thesis possible. Over the previous 4 (and a bit...) years, the split-site nature of this Ph.D. has enabled me to meet a large bunch of wonderful people, astronomers and non-astronomers alike.In the previous 4 years, I’ve changed a lot both personally and professionally, and I’ll try my best to name all of those who have contributed to these changes (nothing personal if I forget a name!). I’ll start professionally with the bosses or supervisors (in no particular order), whom I was lucky to partake in this research with,
Rob Beswick - Thank you so much for the continued support across the 4 years of this Ph.D. research. I cannot count the innumerable times I rang from Groningen or stepped by your office in Manchester to ask many a question (which were often pretty stupid). Your oversight and guidance helped greatly in formulating the various ideas across the thesis and paved the way for many future collaborations where I hope we can work together for many years in the future. I still remember back when I has just started and you taught me the (horrors!) of theAIPS calibration package. I had no idea what was going on. Thank you also for letting me get involved in the Development in Africa in Radio Astronomy (DARA) programme over the last few years (and hiring me for a few months). Lecturing in Zambia has been enlightening and I hope to help with this project for many years to come (it is in my job description in South Africa after all!)
Tom Muxlow - Tom, thank you for your level-headed advice and calm words whenever I had an issue with parts of this Ph.D. I’m glad to have had such a wise mentor who would always find time to answer any questions I had, no matter how busy you were. Your data reduction expertise is unparalleled and your teaching of data reduction has greatly helped me in this project. While I’m not there yet, my goal is to be able to reduce a data set to 1.1 Muxlow sensitivities.†
To bothRob and Tom, thank you for the many many pickups from Goostrey station to JBO over the previous years!
†
To those unaware, 1 Muxlow corresponds to the theoretical sensitivity limit of an interferometer
observation and is named after one of the only people who can reach this value.
220 Acknowledgements
Peter Barthel - Peter, your contributions to this work have been immeasurable and your infectious enthusiasm and optimism has been the perfect foil to my pessimistic ways. Your guidance has helped immensely and helped me keep focus across the entirety of the PhD. Notwithstanding, you have not only been my doctoral advisor but Connie and yourself are part of my new family. It was an absolute pleasure and honour to attend your retirement party in Dec. 2018, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with you over the next few years. I hope I can visit Groningen many times in the future, and you and Connie can come and visit Dhita and I in South Africa over the next few years.
Mike Garrett - your straight talking and direct attitude helped me focus on what needed to be done (especially when my mind would like to go off on many tangents). I always used to dread the email reply after I had sent something for you to review (I will never forget that reply to the introduction to this thesis!), but I knew that it would always be constructive and useful! Over the years, Miriam and yourself have become very good friends of ours, and I hope to see you both many times in the future (and you must come visit us in South Africa!). Thanks for always being there for me, and I hope to expand upon your wide-field VLBI legacy for many more years to come! To all - Thank you so much for the continued support and guidance, especially during the time I was off due to illness. Thanks for your patience and help that you provided to me during that time, and I hope I can repay you in the future. You were all very supportive and I couldn’t ask for better mentors.
To my other colleagues (who are now friends!):
Firstly, thanks to the examination committee,Prof. dr. C. Jackson, Prof. dr. A.A. Zijlstra, Prof. dr. J.P. McKean and Prof. dr. R.A. Windhorst. Thanks for your insightful comments which have significantly contributed to the the final form of this thesis.
Bob Campbell, Aard Keimpema and the JIVE team - Firstly, I’m sorry for the continual pressure Mike’s and my VLBI projects put onto the correlator and those supporting it. Thank you Bob for the helping with the scheduling and correlation (including the upgrade). Special thanks to Aard Keimpema for rewriting the correlator code to cope with the size of this projects and for providing the framework for the EVN primary beam correction.
Adam Deller - Thank you for the in-depth knowledge upon the inner workings of radio observations and VLBI populations. Your insight and influence has greatly improved many of these chapters.
Zsolt Paragi - Thanks Zsolt for the warm welcome into the world of VLBI. I learnt alot from you and I am looking forward to working with you over the next few years on SKA-VLBI.
Lucia van der Voort - Lucia, thank you so much for all your guidance, advice and compassion (especially during my time off ). Your kind and caring, and welcoming approach made my time at Kapteyn thoroughly enjoyable. I sincerely hope you don’t have to deal with a contract like mine ever again!
Charlie Walker - Thanks mate, over the last 4 years you’ve been a beacon of positivity (and eternal coughing). I had a real great time getting to know you and living together. I hope that we can stay in touch no matter how far apart we are.
To the JBCA and JBCAles group in Manchester. NamelyIan, Ben + Katie, Tom, Monique, Charlie, Indy, Chris, Niall, Adam, Alasdair, Francesco, Stefano, David B, David C, Richard, Megan, Nick, Javier and Sam, thanks for keeping me sane over the 2+ years in Manchester along with the various pub trips that often tested my liver.
To the Astro Cool Kids in Groningen, namelyJoe, Kelley, Julia, Hannah, Vanessa, Glen, Aaron, Caroline, Leon, Nika, Saarvesh, Alessandro and Will. Thanks for everything over the last two years in Groningen, it was really good fun and we did loads of things together. My liver is still struggling from the Wednesday night Chupitos, and I’m so very jealous now of Fridayvis in Paddepoel. I will never forget our attempt at making scones (or how many bad ones Will ate!). I can’t wait to come and visit you all, wherever you are!
To the other Groningen folk.Alessandro - our hilarious chats about very obscure top-ics lightened up my time in the office (as long as its not about the hive mind...) and the ventures into carnivorous plants was an adventure. My other office matesZheng and Suma - you are both such kind a caring people and always made me feel welcome while I was in the office (even though your working hours were a little bit odd!). And toScott, Mariano, Lorenzo, Crescenzo, Katya, Enrico, Laura, Olmo, Smaran, Sampath, Anastasia, Marta, Antonino, Kelley, Tadeja, Guilio, Francesco, Avanti, Pooja, Kyle, Jonas and everyone else, thanks for making Kapteyn such a welcoming place over my two years there! I’m looking forward to visiting in the future.
The IT groups,Ant and Bob in Manchester along with Martin, Leon, Valentin and Eite. Thank you all for your assistance in getting me set up and going along with your eternal patience with the obscure software packages that I needed to get installed over the 4 years. And thanks to the admin people,Steph, Andrew, and Katie in Manchester andChrista, Martine and Ramona who were always happy to help with
222 Acknowledgements
any issues over the past few years. Without groups like this, no academic research group could survive!
Also, while I’m on this topic, thanks to thenorma4 and almap7 computers who received so much punishment over the four years, but ultimately produced all of the results presented in this thesis.
To the SPR Groningen tennis team,Ron, Georgette, Gwenny, Mathijs, Riks, Es-telle, Joeke, Harm, Shanty, Giorgos, Acke and Elisa. Thank you all for the wel-come support and friendship over the last few years. I hope to wel-come back and visit you all many times in the future. I’ll miss the various potluck dinners and post-tennis drinks. Let’s hope that Joeke will consider supporting a much better football team when I return! Extra special thanks to the dream team ofGeorgette and Gwenny who set up my ‘surprise’ engagement surprise for Dhita. I’m forever in your debts! To my parents,Devina and Pete, and my family, Emma, Bob and Fred. Thank you for the continual encouragement and advice over the last 4 years. Thanks also for keeping me up when I was feeling down and always letting me know that I can come back if things went badly. I enjoyed coming home for home cooked meals and acting like a teenager again. Without you all, I would not have had this opportunity so thank you!
And to my Whitchurch crew,Andy, Hannah(s), Rebecka, Olly, Will (+ Maddie), Joe (+ Beth) and Charlotte. Thanks for always being there for a drink whenever I’m back in my home town. It’s always great to catch up and have a few beers to celebrate (especially at our normally eventful Christmas eve bash!).
Finally, but not at all least, my beautiful wifeDhita Larasati Radcliffe. Thank you for your kind, caring and loving way along with your fantastic support over the last four years. I’m not so sure I would have been able to complete this thesis, especially during my illness, without your unconditional support. I never would have thought that, after meeting you on the first day in Manchester, that we would be married for almost a year and a half by the end! I’m so very fortunate to be supported by such a compassionate, and empathetic wife. I’m looking forward to us finally living together and setting up our new family along with our new friends that we have made across the last four years. I love you so very much!
