Quick Facts
Biography
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 at Manchester and in 1981 director of the Royal Astronomy Laboratory. He was also Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from 1975 to 1981.
Honours
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970and 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.
Patronage
Sir Francis Graham-Smith is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association 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.