Astrophysicist Prof Sam Okoye (1939 - 2009) is dead
toyin adepoju
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Sam Okoye (1939 - 2009) Prof. Sam Okoye, a citizen of Amawbia, Anambra State, was born on July 26, 1939. He attended the famous Government Secondary School, Owerri, Imo State. Finishing in Grade one, he proceeded to the then University College, Ibadan where he graduated B.Sc, First Class, in Physics. He went on to earn a Ph.D in Astrophysics from Churchill College, University of Cambridge. At 26, he was the first black African to obtain a doctorate in Radio Astronomy. For more than four years he regularly wrote a column in this newspaper on various aspects of science and information technology. His writings were singularly illuminating for he had the uncommon ability of rendering complex scientific notions and theories in elegant everyday language. Prof. Okoye was an accomplished man of science who was keen to be of help in whatever role he was called upon to play.
He was a fellow of the Nigerian Academy of
Science as well as the Royal Astronomical Society of the United
Kingdom. For five years, he served on the governing council of the
Pugwash International Conferences on Science and World Affairs. In addition, he was a member of the New York Academy of Sciences, International Network of Engineers, Scientists for Global Responsibility, and the International Astronomical Union. Whilst at Cambridge, Okoye collaborated with Professor Anthony Hewish on radio emissions from a part of the universe known as the Crab Nebula. It is remarkable that the discovery of the famous crab nebula pulsar earned Prof. Hewish a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1974. Such was the importance of Okoye's contributions to this discovery that Prof. Hewish was obliged to mention him by name in his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize. For many years, Prof. Okoye lectured in physics and astronomy at the University of lbadan and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) where he achieved the rank of full professor in 1976. At UNN, he also served at various times as Director of the Division of General Studies; Head of Department of Physics and Astronomy; Associate Dean and later Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences, and Dean of the School of Post Graduate Studies. In 1978, he acted as Vice Chancellor of UNN. Prof. Okoye's numerous scientific papers and publications span the gamut of physics, solar physics, and the theory of extragalactic radio sources and cosmology. He also wrote a paper entitled, Viable and Affordable Policy Objectives for a Nigerian Space Programme. He co-edited two books, Basic Science Development in Nigeria: Problems and Prospects, and The World at the Crossroads: Towards a Sustainable, Equitable and Livable World. Apart from Nigeria, Prof. Okoye also lectured in the Netherlands, the United States, and the United Kingdom. He was a member of Nigeria's official delegation to the United Nations Conference on Peaceful Uses of Space in Vienna, 1981, as well as a member of a panel charged in 1984 with producing an integrated energy policy for Nigeria. Prof. Okoye was a consultant to the United Nations on the development of space science and technology in developing countries (1979-1986).
For him, no opportunity to serve was considered
beneath his dignity. Thus at various times he was a member of Nsukka
Local Government Social Welfare Council, Njikoka Divisional School
Board and a member of the Coordinating Committee of the National Youth
Service Corps. A quintessential gentleman, friendly and humble, he
taught and inspired generations of Nigerian scientists. |
PULSARS AND HIGH DENSITY PHYSICS
Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1974
by
A NTONY H E W I S H
University of Cambridge, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England
Excerpt:
The scintillation technique also provided an extremely simple and useful means of showing which radio sources had angular sizes in the range 0”.ll”. 0. The first really unusual source to be uncovered by this method turned up in 1965 when, with my student Okoye, I was studying radio emission from the Crab Nebula. We found a prominent scintillating component within the nebula which was far too small to be explained by conventional synchotron radiation and we suggested that this might be the remains of the original star
which had exploded and which still showed activity in the form of flare-type radio emission (6). This source later turned out to be none other than the famous Crab Nebula Pulsar.
REFERENCES.
6. Hewish, A. and Okoye, S. E., Nature, 207, 59, (1965)..
Toyin
.
PULSARS AND HIGH DENSITY PHYSICS
Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1974
by
A NTONY H E W I S H
University of Cambridge, Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge, England
Excerpt:
The scintillation technique also provided an extremely simple and useful means of showing which radio sources had angular sizes in the range 0”.ll”. 0. The first really unusual source to be uncovered by this method turned up in 1965 when, with my student Okoye, I was studying radio emission from the Crab Nebula. We found a prominent scintillating component within the nebula which was far too small to be explained by conventional synchotron radiation and we suggested that this might be the remains of the original star
which had exploded and which still showed activity in the form of flare-type radio emission (6). This source later turned out to be none other than the famous Crab Nebula Pulsar.
REFERENCES.
6. Hewish, A. and Okoye, S. E., Nature, 207, 59, (1965)..
Toyin_.___
Edward Mensah
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