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24 August 2021 | Story Amanda Tongha

In a year marked by a global pandemic, the University of the Free State (UFS) has made great strides in research, teaching, and impactful engagement. 

Our 2020 journey has seen many staff members providing services to advance public knowledge of COVID-19 for the greater good of South Africa. We have produced top-rated scientists, boasting six SARChI research chairs and three A-rated scholars in our world-class workforce. Our various initiatives to ensure student success continue to bear fruit, with current and former students making their mark in the world. One such example is Qinisani Qwabe, a PhD student in the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, Rural Development and Extension, who was selected in the education category of the Mail & Guardian Top 200 Young South Africans. He was also chosen to represent South Africa at a BRICS conference in Russia.

You can read these and other facts and figures in ‘Our 2020 Journey’ publication. 

Click on image to download the document


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Robotic telescope at Boyden Observatory
2005-08-17

Technicians from the University College Dublin in Ireland recently   installed the Watcher robotic telescope at the University of the Free State's (UFS) Boyden Observatory. 

The UFS Boyden Observatory was approached by the University College Dublin to accommodate the Watcher robotic telescope because of its good position for modern astronomical observations, its good infrastructure and because of Bloemfontein's cloudless nights
(especially in winter).

The telescope will mainly be used for observing the optical afterglow of gamma ray bursts (awe-inspiring explosions in the universe) and to search for exo planets (planets around other stars). 

The work that will be done with Watcher will closely link to one of the research directions of the UFS astro physics group that is currently observing these phenomenon with the Boyden 1.5-m telescope. 

The telescope will receive its instructions via the internet and is expected to be fully operational by November 2005. 

At the Watcher robotic telescope are from left Mr Victor Litera, electronical technician from the University College Dublin in Ireland and Dr Matie Hoffman from the Physics Department at the UFS.
 

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