Goonhilly: to infinity and beyond

This October marks 50 years since a heavily shielded spacecraft, the Soviet Union’s Venera 9, parachuted into the atmosphere of Venus. Then, having landed, it did something extraordinary: it beamed ba

(Photograph taken around 1960) Well, 1957 arrived and, having deliberately fluffed two 11-plus exams to avoid Bala Grammar School, I attended Corwen Secondary School. We were told that we were the fir

On 1 September 1939, Post Office engineer Tommy Flowers found himself in Berlin to take part in a European conference about telephone systems. Germany invaded Poland the same day. Flowers and a fellow

Astronomers love a challenge. They place their observatories on the highest mountains, in the driest deserts, on the coldest ice shelves, beneath the deepest oceans, in orbit around Earth and the Sun,

THE HOWL OF a British V12, the growl of an American V8. Even up here the dominant soundtracks that accompany the Le Mans 24 Hours are all too distinct as miniature Aston Martin Valkyries and Cadillac

Planetary physicist Dr Sheila Kanani on why now is the time to spot shooting stars and a sunlit Saturn