Francis Graham-Smith

Sir Francis Graham-Smith (born 25 April 1923) is a British astronomer. He was the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990.

Biography

Education
He was educated at Rossall School, Lancashire, England, and attended Downing College, Cambridge from 1941.

Career
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.

Honours
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970  and was awarded their Royal Medal in 1987.

He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1975 to 1977.

He was the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990.

He won the Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize in 1991.

Patronage
Sir Francis Graham-Smith is a Distinguished Supporter of Humanists UK and is a patron of Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.

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

References

External links

Scienceworld biography
 Online catalogue of F. Graham Smith's working papers as director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (held at Cambridge University Library)

Category:1923 births
Category:Place of birth missing (living people)
Category:People educated at Rossall School
Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
Category:Astronomers Royal
Category:British astronomers
Category:British humanists
Category:Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Living people
Category:Royal Medal winners
Category:20th-century astronomers
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society