Martin Rees but has criticised militant atheists for being too hostile to religion. He is a member of the Labour Party. Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow, (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and was Master of Trinity College, Cambridge from 2004 to 2012 and President of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Rees was born on 23 June 1942 in York, England. After a peripatetic life during the war his parents, both teachers, settled with Rees, an only child, in a rural part of Shropshire near
Raymond F. Rees for 18 months, and managed his family's farm. From November, 1986 to May, 1987 he was commander of the 116th Armored Cavalry Regiment and was promoted to colonel. In May, 1987 Rees was appointed Adjutant General of Oregon, by then Governor Neil Goldschmidt, the first of four times Rees has served in this position. He served until June 1991 and was promoted to brigadier general in 1988 and major general in 1990. From July, 1991 to August, 1992 Rees served as Director of the Army National Guard, succeeding Donald Burdick. In September, 1992 he was appointed vice chief of the