Festival is going strong

I read with interest Brian Ferguson’s article about the 35th anniversary of the Edinburgh International Science Festival which sounds very exciting.

I should like to point out, however, that Dr Simon Gage has not been director since the festival’s inception in 1989. He was appointed in 1995. The first director was Dr Howie Firth who went on to establish the Orkney International Science Festival. I was the festival’s first administrator appointed in 1988 to assist in setting up the April 1989 festival.

The late Admiral Alan Shepard, American astronaut of the Freedom 7 and Apollo 14 space missions, the first American in space, opened this brand new and exciting festival at the Playfair Library giving a talk on his two missions. On the latter mission he played golf on the moon!

I was instrumental in arranging the invitation for this brave astronaut to give the inaugural talk and your newspaper, amongst many others, covered his visit to Edinburgh, and many of the events. The Science Festival of 1989 was a world first, making science and technology accessible for all ages. It was so exciting to be involved at the very beginning!

Admiral Shepard became a friend and stayed in touch with me, giving another talk in Edinburgh when I was director of the High Blood Pressure Foundation. He died in 1998. I should like to wish Dr Gage every success for the future and am very sorry to learn he is standing down after this year’s festival. Under his direction it has gone from strength to strength.

Rosalind Newton, Edinburgh

The Science Festival of 1989 was a world first, making science and technology accessible for all ages