Francis Graham-Smith

AwardsRoyal Medal (1970)
Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize (1991)Scientific careerFieldsRadio astronomyInstitutionsDoctoral studentsAndrew Lyne^[1]

Sir Francis Graham-Smith FRS (born 25 April 1923) is a British astronomer. He was the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990 and was knighted in 1986.^{[2] [3][4]}

Education

Graham-Smith was educated at Rossall School,^[5] Lancashire, England, and the University of Cambridge where he was a student of Downing College, Cambridge from 1941.^[6]

Career and research

In the late 1940s he worked at the University of Cambridge on the Long Michelson Interferometer.

In 1964 he was appointed Professor of Radio Astronomy the University of Manchester and in 1981 director of the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, part of the University of Manchester at Jodrell Bank. He was also Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from 1975 to 1981.

He appeared in Episode 13 of Series 4 of Treasure Hunt when the show visited Jodrell Bank, giving presenter Anneka Rice a piggy back to allow her to reach a clue.^[7] His doctoral students include Andrew Lyne.^[1] His published work includes

• Optics (1971)^{[citation needed]}
• Pathways to the Universe (1988)^{[citation needed]}
• Pulsar Astronomy (1990)^{[citation needed]}
• An Introduction to Radio Astronomy (1997)^{[citation needed]}
• Unseen Cosmos (2013)^{[citation needed]}
• Eyes on the Sky (2016)^{[citation needed]}

Awards and honours

His awards and honours include:

• elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970 ^[2] and was awarded their Royal Medal in 1987
• served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1975 to 1977
• served as the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990
• Awarded the Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize in 1991

In 1965 he was invited to co-deliver the Royal Institution Christmas Lecture on Exploration of the Universe.

Personal life

Graham-Smith is an avid bee-keeper and kept up this hobby well into his 90s, looking after the hives at Jodrell Bank. He also inspired the creation of the St Andrews Amateur Beekeeping Society.^[8]

He lived with his wife Elizabeth in the Old School House in Henbury, Cheshire, from 1981 until her death in 2021. They had met when they were both working with Martin Ryle in 1945-6 in Cambridge in the early days of radio astronomy.^[9]

He celebrated his 100th birthday on 25 April 2023.^[10]

Sir Francis Graham-Smith is a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK^[11] is the President of Macclesfield Astronomical Society and is a patron of Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.

References