Sir Francis Graham Smith

Thirteenth Astronomer Royal (1982-1990)

Sir Francis Graham Smith began his degree at Downing College Cambridge in 1941 but did not graduate until 1946. Like Sir Martin Ryle, Sir Francis spent most of the war working at the Telecommunications Research Establishment at Malvern. He stayed on at Cambridge after graduating to work at the Cavendish on radiowaves from the Sun. He worked with Ryle investigating a radio source in the constellation of Cygnus which he later followed up, comparing findings with various optical astronomers.

In 1952 he went to America to work at the Carnegie Institute in Washington DC returning to Cambridge in 1953. He published a paper with Ryle in 1957 suggesting radio signals from orbiting satellites could be used to aid navigation.

Throughout the 1960s and 70s Sir Francis worked on radio astronomy in Manchester (at Jodrell Bank), at the Royal Greenwich Observatory (Royal Greenwich Observatory) and at Sussex University.

In 1976 he was made Director of Royal Greenwich Observatory where he was involved in setting up the Northern Hemisphere Observatory on the island of La Palma in Canaries. This Observatory is still internationally run to this day.

In 1981 moved back to Manchester to become Director of Jodrell Bank and in 1982 became the thirteenth Astronomer Royal.

In 1990 the Observatory moved site again, from Herstmonceux to Cambridge, where it remained until its closure in October 1998