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How to pronounce Lucy Jago: JAY-go
Lucy Jago is an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction, and a former documentary producer for Channel 4 and the BBC. Her first book, The Northern Lights, won the National Biography prize and has been translated into eight languages; her YA novel, Montacute House, met with critical acclaim in the US and the UK.
A Net for Small Fishes was published by Bloomsbury, February 2021 and later in the spring by Flatiron Books in the USA. Lucy is now working on her next novel for Bloomsbury.
Lucy was awarded a Double First Class Honours Degree from King's College, University of Cambridge, and a master's degree from the Courtauld Institute, London. Lucy is a Fellow of the Royal Literary Society and lives in Somerset.
Lucy Jago's website
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When did you first learn about the Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland,
and what drew you to write a book about his life and discoveries?
While making a film about the sun for a BBC Science series called
"The Planets," I looked for ways to illustrate the influences our star has
on the earth besides providing heat and light. The aurora are the most dramatic,
mysterious phenomena caused by the sun so I contacted scientists at the Auroral
Observatory in Troms for advice on when and how to film them. They provided me
with the information I needed, and told me about an amazing machine they had
just restored which could recreate the aurora in miniature. The man who had
invented this machine, around 1905, was Kristian Birkeland. When I heard more
about this fascinating, brilliant, but tragic figure, I was hooked and began to
research more deeply into his life. I traveled to Norway during holidays to
spend time in archives and up on mountains.
In the winter of 1899/1900, in the most northerly part of Norway, well into the
Arctic Circle, Birkeland built an observatory to watch the aurora. I was lucky
enough to arrive on the only day they had ever allowed "skidoos" up
Haldde mountain and so I hitched a ride to the top...
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