Professor Nial Tanvir of the University of Leicester is a professional astronomer and has been at the fore-front of astronomy for over a decade. Perhaps most significant is his research in and around Gamma ray bursts. Tanvir has featured in various TV programs, including The Sky at Night hosted by Sir Patrick Moore, which is an astronomically focused TV program, and a BBC Horizon documentary about gamma-ray bursts (GRBs).
In 2002 he was a member of the research group which won the Descartes Prize.
Tanvir headed the UK team that discovered the infrared afterglow of GRB 090423 (detected 2009 April 23), the most distant event recorded to date.