Clowes Professor of Science, Emeritus, Faculty of Arts and Sciences

"The joke is why are astronomers on mountaintops, and the answer is, that’s where people want to put them. The real point is that, when you go to a mountain top, you’re above a lot of the atmosphere, above the dust and all the stuff that interferes with the light. In Chile, the fringe of the Atacama desert is a very good place for us, there are lot of mountains, the weather is good, the conditions are as good as they get. There just isn't any place better for us."