Sir Francis Graham-Smith (born 25 April 1923) is a British astronomer. He was the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990.
He was educated at Rossall School, Lancashire, England. 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.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1970 and was awarded their Royal Medal in 1987. He was president of the Royal Astronomical Society from 1975 to 1977.
Sir Francis Graham-Smith is a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association and is a patron of Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society.
Famous quotes containing the word francis:
“The elephant, not only the largest but the most intelligent of animals, provides us with an excellent example. It is faithful and tenderly loving to the female of its choice, mating only every third year and then for no more than five days, and so secretly as never to be seen, until, on the sixth day, it appears and goes at once to wash its whole body in the river, unwilling to return to the herd until thus purified. Such good and modest habits are an example to husband and wife.”
—St. Francis De Sales (1567–1622)