As a professor of astronomy, it was his job to observe as many eclipses as he could. He ended up seeing 75, which made him the second ranking person in the world for sightings. Jay Passachoff's particular pursuits were to work out whether this extra heat was caused by nanoflayers or tiny flares constantly erupting from the sun.
South Africa’s leader says a pile of cash stashed in a sofa represents no wrongdoing. The outcome of an investigation could be the undoing of his presidency and his party. We examine Britain’s hydrogen-economy plans as representing the tradeoffs that many countries will face. And remembering Jay Pasachoff, the world’s foremost expert on and exponent of eclipses.
Help us make the show better: take our listener survey at http://economist.com/intelligencesurvey
For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer