He helped establish the Centre for Effective Philanthropy, which among other things produces donor perception reports based on confidential surveys of organisations that receive money from foundations.

ECONOMIST: Virtue's intermediaries

Farthings, Sir Patrick's home in Selsey in West Sussex, ran for years as an effective open house and science centre, with the observatory in the garden.

BBC: Sir Patrick Moore: Chris Lintott's tribute

"Anything where you run alongside a combined swimming pool alongside a dry centre is much more cost effective, " she said.

BBC: Bridgwater's ?6.3m swimming pool opens to the public

Roberts's centre partnership with Brian O'Driscoll has been one of the most effective combinations on tour.

BBC: Roberts loving 'crazy' rugby rise

But Columbia University Professor Ian Lipkin, of the Mailman School of Public Health's Centre for Infection and Immunity, a scientific adviser on Contagion, is not convinced that crowdsourcing is an effective way to combat the spread of contagious diseases.

BBC: Can crowdsourcing beat the flu?