[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” background_color=”#FFFFFF” custom_padding=”30px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” min_height=”90.8px” custom_margin=”|auto|6px|auto|false|false” custom_padding=”||1px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.17.4″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]It was early morning in the control room at OSF. Bill Dent was alone with an operator and typing away when the information on his screen began to slow to a complete stop. Unable to communicate with the antennas, they called the engineers to no success. \u201cWe had no contact, so we called management and IT, and that’s when everything went very quiet. That’s when they realized we were being hacked,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n
It was the cyberattack suffered on Saturday, October 29, 2022, and Bill Dent, our System Astronomer<\/strong>, was a first-row witness to this unforgettable event for the observatory, one of several milestones in which he has been present.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” custom_padding=”||16px|||” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]After more than 15 years at ALMA, Bill is retiring<\/strong>, giving way to a new stage in his life that he takes with his own humor: \u201cIt’s a bit shocking, but you know, it’s possible, other people have done it\u201d, he says with a smile.<\/p>\n From the same office where he’s worked for more than a decade, Bill recalls that he originally only came for three years: \u201cThat’s what I told my wife. So yeah, my kids basically grew up here. They went to school here and spent most of their lives in Chile. I came for three years and stayed for 15.\u201d[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alma.loadingediciones.cl\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/IMG_5041-scaled.jpg” title_text=”IMG_5041″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alma.loadingediciones.cl\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2018-12-07_224555-1.jpg” title_text=”2018-12-07_224555 (1)” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]He was persuaded by Richard Hills, who left his position as a professor of radio astronomy at Cambridge to take over as ALMA Project Scientist. \u201cI was like, ‘Go to Chile? I don’t speak any of the language. But if he gave that up and went to Chile, why can’t I? So yeah, ALMA was an adventure.\u201d<\/p>\n The adventures soon followed. Only a year after arriving in Chile from Scotland, he would experience the 2010 earthquake. [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#00C0C7″ text_font_size=”24px” text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Two antennas in the early days of ALMA<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alma.loadingediciones.cl\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2009-10-26_025231-1.jpg” title_text=”2009-10-26_025231 (1)” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Bill remembers the early years of the observatory, when there were only two antennas and reaching four was big news. He would go up to the OSF every month to work shifts of up to 14 hours in a control room with 12 other colleagues and 2 operators, suffering the software failures that forced them to reset the system up to ten times in one night: \u201cIt was like fighting fire all the time,\u201d he says.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#00C0C7″ text_font_size=”24px” text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Protagonist of the story<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Major ALMA finds have passed through Bill’s eyes: he collaborated on our first official image and in 2014 he was the first person to discover gas in a disk.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember going to the director’s office, and there was someone else producing early bits of data. The first ring was starting to appear in the noise, and I was like, \u2018it can’t be real\u2019. And then we got a bit more data, and it’s getting deeper and deeper, and you can see it’s coming out. That was really cool, really exciting,\u201d Bill recounts, as he recalls the unveiling of the HL Tau image in 2014.<\/p>\n He also recalls the excitement of watching his colleagues obtain the first image of a black hole in 2019.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alma.loadingediciones.cl\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2013-10-26_044029-1-e1727447154946.jpg” title_text=”2013-10-26_044029 (1)” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#00C0C7″ text_font_size=”24px” text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]The language of science<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Between data and findings, Bill watched the observatory grow, going through as many challenges as a pandemic that paralyzed the world. \u201cI don’t think I’m still really sure it really happened,\u201d he says with a laugh.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/alma.loadingediciones.cl\/dev\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/2018-12-07_232216-1.jpg” title_text=”OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_orientation=”justified” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]But the time has come for him to retire. Back in Scotland, he plans to make his house an eco-friendly home, take up his hobby of ham radio and continue doing astronomical research with the data he still has and didn’t get around to writing down. <\/p>\n Before leaving, he describes his years of adventure at ALMA with his characteristic humor: \u201cIf you only have one opportunity to do something and you don’t take it, you miss it. So it’s been great, even though my language skills are crap. It’s amazing how far you can go without mastering the language. People are pretty tolerant if you at least try, right?\u201d.[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#E09900″ text_font_size=”15px” text_orientation=”center” border_color_all=”#153772″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]Click on the image below to reminisce about Bill Dent’s years at ALMA. It was early morning in the control room at OSF. Bill Dent was alone with an operator and typing away when the information on his screen began to slow to a complete stop. Unable to communicate with the antennas, they called the engineers to no success. \u201cWe had no contact, so we called management and […]<\/p>\n
\nWe thank Chin-Shin Chang, Sergio Martin, Yoshiharu Asaki, Laura G\u00f3mez and Hugo Messias for the photos.<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”5886,5885,5884,5883,5882,5881,5880,5878,5877,5879,5887,5889,5890,5891,5892,5893,5894,5895,5897,5898,5888,5906,5907,5908,5909,5910,5911,5912,5913,5914,5916,5929,5917,5934,5933,5932,5931,5930,5928,5927″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_gallery][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”28px||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.19.1″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#E09900″ text_font_size=”20px” text_orientation=”center” text_text_shadow_style=”preset1″ text_text_shadow_color=”#E09900″ box_shadow_style=”preset1″ global_colors_info=”{}” theme_builder_area=”post_content”]IF YOU ENJOYED THIS NEWSLETTER, GIVE IT A \u201cLIKE\u201d AND COMMENT!<\/strong>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n