Profile

Image © Wellcome Sanger Institute/Genome Research Limited

Retired Astronomer, Genome Wrangler, Software Developer, Database Expert

On 31 August 2026, I retired after forty years as an astronomer, genome wrangler, software developer and database administrator.

I'm looking forward to exploring old interests and new possibilities.

I'm grateful that I will have my beloved Lynne by my side to share the adventure.

Profile

Image © Wellcome Sanger Institute/Genome Research Limited

Scientist

I have professional expertise in mathematics, astronomy, computing and genomics. I take a delight in learning about new developments in all areas of science and technology. I bring the rigour and discipline of the scientific method to all aspects of my work.

Software developer

I have been writing scientific software for over 40 years. I have developed major projects in a number of languages including FORTRAN, C, Perl, Java and Python.

Database expert

I am an experienced database architect and administrator, specialising in MySQL and PostgreSQL.

Problem solver

I work well in a team, contributing insights and developing new ideas. I also enjoy the challenge of setting my own goals, and I possess the self-motivation to reach those goals.

Communicator

I can explain complex ideas effectively to audiences ranging from school-children to university professors. I enjoy creating and presenting talks, seminars and training courses. I am also at ease in more formal situations such as courtrooms and live interviews which demand a considered yet immediate response as a professional scientist.

Education

1974-1981: Upholland Grammar School (now called Winstanley College)

1981-1984: University College London, B.Sc. (Honours) Mathematics and Astronomy

1984-1987: University of Liverpool, Ph.D. in applied mathematics, for research on satellite dynamics

2003-2006: The Open University, Postgraduate Diploma in Computing for Commerce and Industry

Career

2018-present: Freelance author of popular astronomy articles

I have written articles for most editions of the The Yearbook of Astronomy since it was rescued by Pen and Sword Books in 2018. Topics have included the the role of astronomy in calculating the date of Easter, Tycho Brahe's research on the parallax of Mars, the ultimate fate of the Universe, the British Standard Time Experiment from 1968 to 1971, how to read a scientific paper, and the surprising effect of Mars on Earth's climate.

2001-present: Freelance astronomy software developer and visualisation consultant

I have provided consultancy and software development services to several publishers of annual calendars and books aimed at the amateur astronomy community. I specialise in creating diagrams and charts showing the positions and appearance of the stars, Sun, Moon and planets using the same rigorous mathematical principles that underpin The Astronomical Almanac and other professional almanacs. My software generates files in the industry-standard Encapsulated Postscript format which can be directly embedded into publications using page layout software such as Adobe InDesign.

• 2017-present: Pen & Sword Books. Created the monthly star charts for The Yearbook of Astronomy. Ongoing work for this publication includes creation of planet visibility diagrams, planet location charts and star finder charts.
• 2011-present: Floris Books. Created the daily Moon graphics diagrams for The Stargazer's Almanac.
• 2006-2010: Hawthorn Press. Created the daily Moon graphics diagrams for The Stargazer's Almanac.
• 2001-2004: The Moon Calendar Company. Wrote software to generate the complete pages of calendars and wall charts showing the daily appearance of the Moon.

2021-2026: Principal Database Administrator at the Wellcome Sanger Institute

2011-2020: Senior Database Administrator at the Wellcome Sanger Institute

I managed more than 300 MySQL and PostgreSQL databases which store the scientific data which are generated, analysed and shared with the world by the Sanger Institute. Together, they represent three-quarters of the scientific database capacity at the Institute.

• Managing and monitoring 250 MySQL instances and 70 PostgreSQL clusters.
• Designing and implementing strategies to ensure the high availability of databases which support mission-critical services such as 24x7 laboratory pipelines and high-profile public web sites.
• Analysing and optimising the performance of the database servers, including tuning of the host operating system and back-end block storage.
• Identifying performance bottlenecks in database client code and advising on optimisation of SQL queries.
• Developing and implementing procedures to automate the monitoring and testing of daily backups.
• Liaising with software development teams to advise them on best practices for database client software.
• Creating and presenting training courses for colleagues to help them make effective use of databases.
• Learning and applying new ideas and techniques in MySQL and PostgreSQL by studying best-practice blogs and attending conferences.

1999-2011: Senior Software Developer at the Wellcome Sanger Institute

• Initiating and leading the development of more robust and effective methods for managing large sets of genome assembly data.
• Communicating new ideas to colleagues through seminars and training courses.
• Solving data-management problems for members of the Pathogen Group.
• Installing and managing a set of database servers for the assembly data management project.
• Analysing and improving the performance of genome assembly software.
• Creating new software tools to visualise the progress of pathogen genome assemblies.

1996-1998: H.M. Nautical Almanac Office, Royal Greenwich Observatory

• Communicating astronomical information to the general public, government agencies, commercial organisations, specialists and professionals.
• Designing and creating graphical representations of astronomical information, including a set of 160 star charts for the publisher Dorling-Kindersley.
• Initiating and implementing projects to improve the accessibility of the NAO's astronomical information and the efficiency with which it is delivered.
• Innovating new computing strategies to make use of the World Wide Web as a publishing medium.
• Researching and developing new mathematical techniques to ensure the accuracy of the information which NAO produces.
• Collaborating with colleagues from institutions in the U.K. and the U.S. to maintain the standard and relevance of the NAO's publications.

1990-1996: Lecturer in the School of Mathematical Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

• Teaching mathematics, computing and astronomy.
• Innovating improved methods for teaching and assessment of computing courses, moving away from the old-fashioned "lectures and written exams" model.
• Successfully persuading two dozen academic colleagues to write, check and mark graduate examination papers each year during the summer vacation, a time when most of them would rather be doing something more interesting.
• Organising training courses and conferences.
• Analysing and evaluating large sets of data to determine satellite orbital parameters in support of NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn.
• Innovating and improving strategies to obtain new high-precision measurements of satellite positions.

1987-1990: Computer Algebra Support Project, University of Liverpool Computer Laboratory

• Evaluating and comparing software packages.
• Advising clients on the choice of the best software for their needs.
• Developing new modules for existing software packages.
• Solving programming problems for clients across the U.K.
• Training colleagues and clients in the use of software.
• Communicating and reporting information via seminars, newsletters, user guides and books.

Publications

Research papers, conference proceedings and books

1. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., Sinclair, A.T., Shen, K.X., (1988) The Theory of the Motion of Iapetus, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 191, 381
2. Harper, D., (1988) The motion of the orbit plane of Iapetus, in A.E.Roy (ed), "Long-term Dynamical Behaviour of Natural and Artificial N-Body Systems" (Kluwer Academic Publishers)
3. Harper, D., (1989) VECTOR33 — a REDUCE program for vector algebra and calculus in orthogonal curvilinear coordinates, Computer Physics Communications, 54, 295
4. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., Sinclair, A.T., (1989) Analysis of the orbits of Titan, Hyperion and Iapetus by numerical integration, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 221, 359
5. Harper, D., (1989) Introduction to Maple, (Manchester Computing Centre)
6. Harper, D., Wooff, C.D., Hodgkinson, D.E., (1991) A Guide to Computer Algebra Systems, pp ix+148 (John Wiley & Sons)
7. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., (1992) New Masses of Saturn's Inner Satellites from Ground-Based Observations, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 24, 944
8. Murray, C.D., Harper, D., (1992) Applications of High-Order Expansions of the Planetary Disturbing Function to Asteroid Dynamics, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 24, 964
9. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., Murray, C.D., Jones, D.H.P., Beurle, K., Williams, I.P., (1992) Analysis of CCD observations of Saturn's satellites, Gemini, 38, 19
10. Murray, C.D., Harper, D., (1993) Expansion of the Planetary Disturbing Function to Eighth Order in the Individual Orbital Elements, pp ii+436, QMW Maths Notes Volume 15, (QMW School of Mathematical Sciences)
11. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., (1993) The orbits of the major satellites of Saturn, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 268, 326
12. Beurle, K., Harper, D., Jones, D.H.P., Murray, C.D., Taylor, D.B., Williams, I.P., (1993) Preliminary analysis of CCD observations of Saturn's satellites, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 269, 564
13. Harper, D., Taylor, D.B., (1994) Analysis of ground-based observations of the satellites of Saturn, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 284, 619
14. Simons, S., Harper, D., (1994) A class of solutions of the time-dependent reaction-diffusion equation for the processes A+A→A and A+A→0, Journal of Physics A, 27, L663
15. Nicholson, P.D., French, R.G., Faison, M., Matthews, K., Skrutskie, M., Harper. D., (1994) The Iapetus eclipses of 2 May and 21 July 1993, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 26, 1023
16. Harper, D., Murray, C.D., (1994) Disturbing Function Expansions, Special issue (December 1994) of the Maple Technical Newsletter, pp 24–28 (Birkhauser, Boston)
17. Hadjifotinou, K.G., Harper, D., (1995) Numerical integration of the orbits of planetary satellites, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 303, 940
18. Harper, D., (1996) Automatic astrometric reduction of CCD star fields using the computer algebra system Maple, in A. Lopez Garcia et al. (eds), "Proceedings of the III International Workshop on Positional Astronomy and Celestial Mechanics" (University of Valencia)
19. Harper, D., Hadjifotinou, K.G., (1996) The effect of step-size on the numerical integration of satellite orbits, in Arlot, J.-E. et al (eds), "Dynamics, ephemerides, and astrometry of the solar system: Proceedings of IAU Symposium 172"
20. Nicholson, P. D., McGhee, C. A., French, R. G., Matthews, K., Soma, M., Harper, D., (1996) Eclipses and Occultations of Saturn's Satellites in 1995, Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 28, 1073
21. Harper, D., (1996) Astrometry of Saturn's satellites from La Palma, Annales de Physique, 21, 157
22. Harper, D., Murray, C.D., Beurle, K., Williams, I.P., Jones, D.H.P., Taylor, D.B., Greaves, S.C., (1997) CCD astrometry of Saturn's satellites 1990–1994, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 121, 65
23. Harper, D., Beurle, K., Williams, I. P., Murray, C. D., Taylor, D. B., Fitzsimmons, A., Cartwright, I. M., (1999) CCD astrometry of Saturn's satellites in 1995 and 1997, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 136, 257
24. Qiao, R.C., Shen, K.X., Liu, J.R., Harper, D., (1999) 1994–1996 CCD astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites and comparison with theories, Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series, 137, 1
25. International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, (2001) Initial sequencing and analysis of the human genome, Nature, 409, 860
26. Fraenz, M., Harper, D., (2002) Heliospheric coordinate systems, Planetary and Space Science, 50, 217
27. Bentley, S.D., et al., (2002) Complete genome sequence of the model actinomycete Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2), Nature, 417, 141
28. Hall, N., et al., (2002) Sequence of Plasmodium falciparum chromosomes 1, 3–9 and 13, Nature, 419, 527
29. Shen, K.X., Qiao, R.C., Harper, D., Hadjifotinou, K.G., Liu, J.R., (2002) Astrometry of five major Uranian satellites in 1995–1997, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 391, 775
30. Qiao, R.C., Shen, K.X., Harper, D., Liu, J.R., (2004) 1997–2000 CCD astrometric observations of Saturn's satellites and comparison with theories, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 422, 377
31. International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium, (2004) Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome, Nature, 431, 931
32. Eichinger, L., et al., (2005) The genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum, Nature, 435, 43
33. Berriman, M., et al., (2005) The Genome of the African Trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei, Science, 309, 416
34. Shen, K.X., Harper, D., Qiao, R.C., Dourneau, G., Liu, J.R., (2005) Re-determination of Phoebe's orbit, Astronomy and Astrophysics, 437, 1109
35. Pain, A., et al., (2008) The genome of the simian and human malaria parasite Plasmodium knowlesi, Nature, 455, 799
36. Zhang, H.Y., Shen, K.X., Dourneau, G., Harper, D., Qiao, R.C., Xi, X.J., Cheng, X., Yan, D., Li, S.N., Wang, S.H., (2014) An orbital determination of Triton with the use of a revised pole model, MNRAS, 438, 1663
37. Scott, T.C. and Harper, D., (2023) Michael Scot and the Music of the Spheres, Transversal: International Journal for the Historiography of Science, 15, 1

Articles for The Yearbook of Astronomy

I have written a number of popular articles for The Yearbook of Astronomy. In the list below, the year at the start of each entry refers to the edition of the Yearbook in which the article appears.

• 2018 — The Double "Blue Moon" of 2018.
• 2019 — Movable Feasts and Leaping Moons: Astronomy and the Date of Easter.
• 2019 — When Astronomy Meets the Law: A Personal Perspective on Twilight.
• 2020 — Jupiter and Saturn: At Their Closest in Almost Four Centuries.
• 2020 — The Naming of Stars.
• 2020 — Toads, Earthworms and Slugs Among the Stars: The Curious Constellations of Dr John Hill.
• 2021 — The Star That Was Older Than the Universe: The Mystery of HD 140283.
• 2021 — Tinkering with Time: The British Standard Time Experiment at 50.
• 2022 — Tycho Brahe and the Parallax of Mars.
• 2023 — A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Seattle: Astronomy at 36,000 feet.
• 2023 — Shining a Light on Jupiter's Atmosphere. (With L.M. Stockman)
• 2023 — A Brief History of the End of the Universe.
• 2024 — The Peregrinations of Pallas.
• 2024 — Saturn at its Equinox: Mutual Occultations and Eclipses of the Satellites 2024–2025.
• 2024 — Things Fall Apart: Chaos in the Solar System.
• 2025 — Saturn at its Equinox: The Ring Plane Crossing of 2025
• 2025 — Saturn at its Equinox: A History of Ring Plane Crossings from 1612 to 2025
• 2025 — How to Read a Scientific Paper
• 2027 — Mars Attacks! How the Red Planet Affects Earth's Climate

The Dynamics of the Outer Satellites of Saturn

Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Liverpool for the degree of Doctor in Philosophy by David Harper, September 1987

• Title page, acknowledgements and table of contents [PDF]
• CHAPTER 1: Introduction [PDF]
• CHAPTER 2: The theory of the motion of Iapetus [PDF]
• CHAPTER 3: Long-period motion of the orbit plane of a natural satellites [PDF]
• CHAPTER 4: Preparation of visual observations [PDF]
• CHAPTER 5: Numerical integration [PDF]
• References, Appendices [PDF]

Also available at the University of Liverpool Repository via DOI 10.17638/00010393.

Programming languages that I have known and used

Languages that I still use (and the year I learned them)

• FORTRAN (1981)
• C (1988)
• Bourne shell/Bash (1988)
• PostScript (1990)
• Perl (1996)
• Java (2000)
• Python (2015)

Languages that I have used, and can still read

• BASIC
• C++
• TeX
• LaTeX
• Intel assembler
• Ruby

Languages that I have used, but have now forgotten

• Z80 assembler
• BCPL
• Forth
• 68000 assembler
• EXEC2
• IBM 370 assembler
• REXX
• LISP
• REDUCE
• RLISP
• Maple
• Mathematica

Professional Affiliations

Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society

The Royal Astronomical Society was founded in 1820 as the Astronomical Society of London. It was awarded a royal charter by William IV in 1831. It is a learned society whose purpose is to encourage and promote astronomy, geophysics and related sciences. It currently has more than 3,500 members, mostly in universities, observatories and other research institutes.

Member of the European Astronomical Society

The European Astronomical Society was founded in 1990 to promote and advance astronomy in Europe. As an independent body, it is able to act on matters that need to be handled at a European level on behalf of the European astronomical community. In its endeavours, it collaborates with affiliated national astronomical societies and also with pan-European research organisations and networks.

International Affiliate of the American Astronomical Society

The American Astronomical Society was founded in 1899. It is the major organisation of professional astronomers in North America. The mission of the AAS is to enhance and share humanity's scientific understanding of the universe.

Member of the International Astronomical Union

The International Astronomical Union was founded in 1919 to promote international cooperation in astronomy and related sciences. It has more than 12,000 members worldwide, drawn from all nations where astronomy is studied. It organises scientific meetings, sets standards, approves nomenclature of astronomical objects, and supports education and public outreach activities.

The work of the IAU is organised into Divisions, Commissions and Working Groups. I am currently a member of:

• Commission A3 (Fundamental Standards)
• Commission A4 (Celestial mechanics and dynamical astronomy)
• Commission C5 (Cultural Astronomy)
• Commission X2 (Solar system ephemerides)

Founding Member of the Society for the History of Astronomy

The Society for the History of Astronomy was founded in 2002 to promote an academic, educational and popular interest in the history of the science of astronomy and related subjects. It encourages new research into the history of astronomy, especially amateur research at the local level.

Personal interests

• Genealogy - I can trace my family through ten generations to Suffolk, Northamptonshire and the Yorkshire Dales in the 17^th century.
• Islay single-malt whisky, especially Lagavulin, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain.
• The history of the calendar.
• Good food.
• Classical music, particularly the Baroque period.

Celestial Mechanician? What's that all about?

No, I don't repair spacecraft.

Celestial mechanics is the branch of astronomy which studies the orbital motions of the planets, their moons, and other objects in the Solar System such as asteroids and comets. It has a long history. Kepler, Copernicus and Newton were early celestial mechanicians. It reached its zenith in the 19^th century, when the celestial mechanicians John Couch Adams and Urbain Leverrier predicted the existence of a previously unknown planet based purely on its effect on the motion of Uranus. As a result of their work, the planet Neptune was discovered in 1846. The subject became less popular among astronomers with the rise of astrophysics and cosmology in the early 20^th century, but it gained a new lease of life during the Space Race of the 1950s and 1960s, and it remains a highly relevant branch of astronomy today.

People who study celestial mechanics are known as celestial mechanicians. My Ph.D. and subsequent research on the dynamics of planetary satellites falls within the remit of celestial mechanics, so I am a celestial mechanician (part-time).

Why is this web site theotherdavidharper.com?

I'm not the only David Harper with a personal web site.

I have a namesake who is a realtor (estate agent) in Florida, and another who is a presenter at BBC Wales. They own the domains davidharper.com and davidharper.org respectively.

The davidharper.net domain wasn't available when I was planning this site. It was owned by a company that specialises in selling domains. The company was asking many hundreds of dollars for the domain. They turned down my offer to buy it at a more reasonable price, and I wasn't going to pay almost a thousand dollars to that kind of company.

So I needed to find an alternative personal domain name that would be distinctive and memorable. I considered doctordavidharper.com but decided that it was too pretentious. Then I checked to see whether theotherdavidharper.com had been claimed, and discovered that it was available along with the dot-net and dot-org versions. That's why this web site is theotherdavidharper.com.

Maybe I should have T-shirts printed.

UPDATE: In December 2023, I discovered that davidharper.net was finally available, so I registered it and arranged for it to re-direct to theotherdavidharper.com. I also registered davidharper.uk because my preferred domain registrar, Pair Domains, was offering it at a knock-down price.

Elsewhere on the Internet

• Profile page at the Wellcome Sanger Institute
• LinkedIn
• ORCID
• Astronomy Genealogy Project
• Mathematics Genealogy Project

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