I had overall responsibility for the development & maintenance of the UK ground system and database for the Anglo-Japanese X-ray satellite Ginga. Software for this was produced by Leicester University personnel together with four support programmers from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). Developing reliable background subtraction software demanded considerable effort, & I performed an extensive investigation into the effect of the charged particle flux experienced by the Ginga detectors.
Ginga software has been made available to a number of institutes, & I have provided support & training to astronomers thoughout the world. After the launch of Ginga I was responsible for technical liaison with the Japanese groups participating in the Ginga project, & consequently visited the Institute of Space & Astronautical Science near Tokyo for one month each year.
The majority of my personal astrophysical research was in the field of quasars (see publication list). It involved extensive collaboration with scientists in the UK, USA, Europe, & Japan.