This will be the first post in the category of 'Science in the modern world', and covers observational astronomy, in particular with radioastronomy telescopes. The science field of astronomy (as opposed to the lore of astrology ; more on that in a future blog-post) has been a constant thread throughout my life so far. I will be describing my professional stories more or less in sequence, and will start with my early pre-professional years. One could call it a memoire or a se