Gresham Professor of Astronomy

Chris Lintott, appointed Gresham Professor of Astronomy in 2023

The Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it appointed seven professors. Astronomy is one of the original subjects as set out by the will of Thomas Gresham in 1575.[1]

The Professor of Astronomy is appointed in partnership with the City of London Corporation.

List of Gresham Professors of Astronomy

Note, years given as, say, 1596/97 refer to Old Style and New Style dates.

Name Started
1 Edward Brerewood March 1596/97
2 Thomas Williams 11 November 1613
3 Edmund Gunter 6 March 1619/20
4 Henry Gellibrand 2 January 1626/27
5 Samuel Foster 2 March 1636/37
6 Mungo Murray 25 November 1637
7 Samuel Foster 26 May 1641
8 Lawrence Rooke 23 July 1652
9 Sir Christopher Wren 7 August 1657
10 Walter Pope 8 March 1660/61
11 Daniel Man 21 September 1687
12 Alexander Torriano 31 July 1691
13 John Machin 16 May 1713
14 William Romaine 25 June 1751
15 William Cockayne 21 April 1752
16 Peter Sandiford 16 July 1795
17 Joseph Pullen[2] 3 December 1833
18 Edmund Ledger[3] 27 July 1875
19 Samuel Arthur Saunder 2 December 1908
20 Arthur Robert Hinks 17 April 1913
(1939–45 Lectures in abeyance)
21 William Herbert Steavenson 29 May 1946
22 Sir John Carroll 1964
23 Sir Martin Ryle 1968
24 Roger Tayler 1969
25 Sir Martin Rees,
Baron Rees of Ludlow FRS		 1975
26 David W Dewhirst 1976–80
27 Michael Rowan-Robinson 1981
28 Andrew Fabian 1982
29 Raymond Hide 1984
30 George Porter,
Baron Porter of Luddenham OM FRS		 1 September 1990
31 Heather Couper FRAS 1 September 1993
32 Colin Pillinger FRS 1 September 1996
33 Frank Close OBE 1 September 2000
34 John D Barrow FRS 1 September 2003
35 Ian Morison FRAS 1 August 2007
36 Carolin Crawford 1 August 2011
37 Joseph Silk 2015
38 Katherine Blundell 2019[4]
39 Chris Lintott 22 June 2023[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "How We Recruit Speakers | Gresham College". www.gresham.ac.uk. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Pullen, Joseph (PLN826J)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. ^ "Ledger, Edmund (LGR859E)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  4. ^ "Professor Katherine Blundell OBE". Gresham College. Retrieved 2 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Chris Lintott appointed Gresham Professor of Astronomy". Gresham College. 22 June 2023. Retrieved 22 August 2023.

References

Further reading

  • Ward, John (1740). The Lives of the Professors of Gresham College. New York & London: Johnson Reprint Corporation.