| Date of Birth | 23 June 1942 |
| Degrees | |
| 1963 | BA (Mathematics) |
| Trinity College, Cambridge | |
| 1967 | MA, Ph.D |
| Currently: | |
| 2012 | Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1995- | Astronomer Royal |
| 2001- | Honorary Professor: Imperial College, London and Leicester University |
| Previous Jobs: | |
| 1968 | Research Fellow, Caltech |
| 1967-69 | Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge |
| 1967-72 | Staff member, Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Cambridge |
| 1969-72 | Senior Research Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1969-70 | Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey |
| Spring 1971 | Visiting Associate Professor, Caltech |
| 1972, 1988-89 | Visiting Professor, Harvard University |
| 1972-73 | Professor, Sussex University |
| 1976-77 | Gresham Professor of Astronomy |
| 1982, 1996, 1997 | Visiting Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| Jan-June 1984 | Joint Coordinator of programme on galaxy formation, etc. at Institute of Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara |
| 1984-88 | Regents Visiting Fellow of Smithsonian Institution |
| 1973-91 | Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, Cambridge University |
| Spring 1995 | JSPS visitor, Kyoto University |
| 1977-82 and 1987-91 | Director, Institute of Astronomy |
| 1973-91 | Professorial Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1992-2003 | Royal Society Professor at Cambridge University |
| 1992-2003 | Official Fellow King's College, Cambridge |
| 2002-2009 | Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, Cambridge |
| 2004-2012 | Master of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Society and Academy Memberships: | |
| 1975 | Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 1979 | Fellow of Royal Society |
| 1981 | Fellow of Institute of Physics (Honorary Fellow 2001- ) |
| 1982 | Foreign Associate: National Academy of Sciences (USA) |
| 1989 | Member of Academia Europaea |
| 1989-99 | Fellow of Institute of Mathematics and its Applications |
| 1990 | Member of Pontifical Academy of Sciences |
| 1990 | Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences |
| 1993 | Foreign Member: American Philosophical Society |
| 1993 | Foreign Member: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| 1994 | Honorary Member: Russian Academy of Sciences |
| 1996 | Honorary Member: Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters |
| 1996 | Foreign Member, Academia Lincei |
| 1998 | Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 2001 | Honorary Fellow of British Association |
| 2003 | Foreign Member Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters |
| 2007 | Honorary Fellow: Royal Academy of Engineering |
| 2007 | Associate Fellow: T W A S |
| 2012 | Honorary Fellow: Academy of Medical Sciences |
| 2012 | Foreign Member: Turkish Academy of Sciences |
| 2012 | Honorary Fellow: British Academy |
| 2014 | Foreign Member: Japan Academy |
| 2016 | Honorary Fellow: Learned Society of Wales |
| Awards and honours: | |
| 1975 | H. P. Robertson Award & Lectureship (Nat. Acad. Sci.) |
| 1982 | Hopkins Prize (Cam. Phil. Soc.) |
| 1984 | Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (A.I.P.) |
| 1986 | Bappu Memorial Award of Indian Nat. Sci. Acad. |
| 1987 | Gold Medal of Royal Astron. Soc |
| 1989 | Guthrie Medal and Prize. Inst. of Physics (UK) |
| 1989 | Karl Schwarzschild Award of Astronomische Gesellschaft |
| 1989 | Balzan Prize |
| 1990 | Robinson Prize for Cosmology |
| 1991 | Officier dans I'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres |
| 1992 | Knight Batchelor |
| 1993 | Bruce Medal, Astr. Soc. Pacific |
| 1996 | Science writing award. American Institute of Physics |
| 1998 | Bower Prize and Award for Science, Franklin Institute |
| 2000 | Golden Plate Award, International Academy of Achievement |
| 2000 | Rossi prize (AAS) |
| 2001 | Cosmology Prize, Gruber Foundation |
| 2003 | Einstein Award of World Cultural Council |
| 2004 | Descartes Prize (member of winning collaboration) |
| 2004 | Faraday Award (Roy Soc) |
| 2005 | Crafoord Prize (Royal Swedish Academy) |
| 2005 | Life Peerage |
| 2005 | Niels Bohr Medal (UNESCO) |
| 2007 | Order of Merit |
| 2011 | Templeton Prize |
| 2012 | Newton Prize (Institute of Physics) |
| 2013 | Paczynski Medal (Warsaw) |
| 2013 | Dirac Medal and Prize (ICTP) |
| 2015 | Nierenberg Prize (Scripps Institute) |
| 2015 | Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Star) (Japan) |
| Hon. DSc. | |
| Sussex (1990), Leicester (1993), Copenhagen (1995), Keele (1995), Uppsala (1995), Newcastle (1995), Toronto (1996), Durham (1999), Oxford (2000), Ohio (2006), Exeter (2006), Hull (2007), Yale (2008), Open University (2008), Liverpool (2008), King's College, London (2008), McMaster (2009), East Anglia (2009), Melbourne (2010), Portsmouth (2011), Sydney (2012), ETH Zurich (2012), Cambridge (2014), Greenwich (2014), Harvard (2016) | |
| Hon. D. Litt | University of London (2011), University of Bath (2015) |
| Hon. Fellow | |
| Cardiff University (1998),Trinity College, Cambridge (1995), Jesus College, Cambridge (1996), Darwin College, Cambridge (2004), King's College, Cambridge (2007), John Moores University, Liverpool (2008), Isaac Newton Institute (2012), City and Guilds (2012), Science Museum (2013) | |
| Committees (mainly past) | |
| 1992-94 | President, Royal Astronomical Society (Council member 1972-75) |
| 1995-96 | President, British Association for the Advancement of Science (Council 1994-01) |
| 1996-02 | Trustee of British Museum |
| 1998- | Trustee of Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| 1998-01 | Trustee of NESTA |
| 1999-04 | Trustee: Kennedy Memorial Trust (UK) |
| 1997- | President: British Physics Olympiad Committee |
| 1998-07 | Chairman: Victor Rothschild Memorial Trust |
| 2001-08 | Trustee: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) |
| 2003-11 | Trustee: National Museum of Science and Industry |
| 2004- | Council: Foundation for Science and Technology |
| 2004-12 | Governor: Westminster School |
| 2005- | Trustee: Gates Cambridge Trust |
| 2005-10 | President Royal Society (Council member 1983-5 and 1993-5) |
| 2006- | Board Member: Science, Technology and Society Forum (Kyoto) |
| 2008-09 | Council Member: Royal Institution |
| 2008-13 | Governing Board, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology |
| 2012-13 | President: Association for Science Education |
Oxford Martin School
Grantham Institute (IC and LSE)
Ditchley Foundation (Hon. Governor)
Santa Fe Institute
ICTP Salam Institute
NTU Singapore (Complexity Programme)
Life Stories (British Library)
Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Council)
House of Lords S & T Committee
Samuel Johnson Book Prize (Chair of Judges)
Oxford Martin Commission on future generations
BASIC commission on nuclear weapons
Anniversary Longitude Prize Advisory Board (Chair)
Breakthrough "Listen" project board (Chair)
| Other previous external academic activities | |
| IAU: | President of Commission on High Energy Astrophysics (No. 48) (1973-76); organising committee, commissions 47, 51. Special nominating committee (1994- ) |
| ESRO/ESA: |
Member of various committees and panels, Chairman of Scientific Advisory Committee (1976-78) |
| EPS: | Board member (and first secretary) of Astronomy and Astrophysics Division |
| SERC/PPARC | Member of various committees and panels; member ASR Board (1977-80), PPARC Council (1994-1997) |
| EU: | CODEST Physics Panel (1992-94) |
| BNSC: | Science Board (1986-88) |
| COPUS: | Member (1995-00) |
Member of editorial boards for Reviews of Modern Physics, Oxford Monographs in Physics, Contemporary Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics Reviews, Physics World, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and other journals.
Have directed 6 NATO-sponsored Advanced Study Institutes, and been involved in organisation of many conferences, summer schools, etc.
Visiting Committee Max Planck Institute, Munich, (1976-88),
BBC Science Consultative Committee (1984-88)
Advisory Committees for Indian Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (1989-92), SISSA, Trieste (1992-6), Niels Bohr Institute (1993-6),
IAC, Spain (1995-7), NOVA (Holland) (2000-4) and Caltech Physical Sciences (2000), Committee for Exhibition of 1851 (2002-5), (also numerous 'ad hoc' visiting/advisory committees in UK and overseas).
Special Lectures
1972
Kelvin Lecturer
(British Association) 1975
Lindsay Memorial Lecturer
(NASA, Washington)
1975
H.P. Robertson Memorial Lecturer
(Nat. Acad.Sci.) 1976-77
Gresham Lecturer
(London) 1976
George Darwin Lecturer
(R.A.S) 1978
Halley Lecturer
(Oxford) 1979
Tyndall Lecturer
(Bristol) 1979
Larmor Lecturer
(Cam. Phil. Soc.) 1979
Tolansky Lecturer
(Roy. Soc. Arts) 1980
Tizard Lecturer
(Westminster) 1980
Loeb Lecturer
(Harvard) 1980
Milne Lecturer
(Oxford) 1981
"Distinguished Lecturer"
(U. of Alberta) 1981
Jansky Lecturer
(NRAO, USA) 1982
Lockyer Memorial Lecturer
(Exeter) 1982
Behr Lecturer
(Pittsburgh U./Carnegie Mellon U.) 1982
Redman Lecturer
(McMaster U.) 1982
Bakerian Lecturer
(Royal Society) 1982
Miller Lecturer
(Illinois) 1983
Marlar Lecturer
(UCSD) 1984
Danz Lecturer
(U. of Washington) 1984
Bunyan Lecturer
(Stanford U.) 1984
Ida Beam Visiting Professor
(U. of Iowa) 1984
Clark Lecturer
(Glasgow U.) 1986
Sackler Lecturer
(Tel Aviv) 1987
Hubble Lecturer
(Space Telescope Inst. Baltimore) 1987
Lauritsen Lecturer
(Caltech) 1988
Invited discourse
(IAU General Assembly) 1989
Schwarzschild Lecturer
(Astronomische Gesellschaft) 1990
Gold Lecturer
(Cornell) 1991
Celsius Lecturer
(Uppsala) 1992
Lezioni Lincee
(Accademia Lincei, Rome/Milan) 1994
Cecil and Ida Green Visiting Professor
(UBC) 1995
Hitchcock Visiting Professor
(UC Berkeley) 1995
Delphasus Lecturer
(UC Santa Cruz) 1995
Marker Lecturer
(Pennsylvania State U) 1996
Schiaparelli Lecturer
(Accademia Lincei) 1997
Sackler Lecturer
(Toronto) 1997
Royal Palace Symposium speaker
(Amsterdam) 1998
Rutherford/Canada Lecturer
(Royal Society) 1998
Mautner Lecturer
(U C Los Angeles) 1998
Hays Lecturer
(Pittsburgh) 1998
Rossi Lecturer
(Florence) 1999
Pauli Lecturer
(ETH, Zurich) 1999
"Distinguished" Lecturer
(U Victoria and DAO, Canada) 1999
Leverhulme Lecturer
(Liverpool) 2000
Scribner Lecturer
(Princeton) 2000
Gamow Memorial Lecturer
(Colorado U) 2000
Larmor Lecturer
(Belfast) 2001 Brickwedde Lecturer (Johns Hopkins U) 2001 John Darius Lecturer (Science Museum) 2001 Centenary Lecture Series (City of Melbourne) 2001 McCrea Lecturer (Royal Irish Academy) 2002 Grubb Parsons Lecturer (Durham) 2002 Oskar Klein Lecturer (Stockholm) 2003 Petrie Lecturer (RAS Canada) 2003 Simonyi Lecturer (Oxford) 2003 Ove Nathan Lecturer (Danish Academy) 2003 Wu Lecturer (U Michigan) 2003 Johnson Lecturer (National Maritime Museum) 2004 Gresham Mansion House Lecturer (London) 2004 Russell Lecturer (Amer. Astron. Soc.) 2005 Faraday Lecturer (Royal Soc) 2005 Messenger Lecturer (Cornell U) 2005 Oppenheimer Lecturer (UC Berkeley) 2006 Chatham Lecturer (Oxford) 2006 Foster Lecturer (London) 2006 Queen's Lecturer (Berlin) 2007 Gifford Lecturer (St Andrews) 2007 Blackett Memorial Lecturer (Delhi) 2007 Rajiv Gandhi Lecturer (Bangalore) 2007 Pardee Lecturer (Boston
University)
2007 Caird Medal Lecture
(National Maritime Museum) 2008 Reimar Lust Lecture (MPG)
2008 Wolfson Haldane Lecture (Oxford)
2008 Aurelio Peccei Lecture (Rome)
2008 Ditchley Lecture
2008 Roscoe Lecture (Liverpool)
2008 Athenaeum Lecture
2009 James Martin Lecture (Oxford)
2009 Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor Lectures (Singapore)
2009 Hon. Fellowship Lecture (Cam Phil Soc)
2009 Lord Speaker's Lecture (House of Lords)
2010 Rutherford Lectures (Christchurch and
Wellington, New Zealand)
2010 Derek Denton Lecture (Melbourne, Australia)
2010 Reith Lectures (BBC)
2010 Lewis Thomas Lecture (Rockefeller University)
2010 Cockcroft-Rutherford Lecture (Manchester) 2011 Kohn Lecture (Imperial College)
2011 Beyond Lecture (Arizona)
2011 Benson Lecture (Chicago)
2011 Barringer Lecture (Nat Hist Mus)
2011 Erasmus Darwin Lecture (Lichfield)
2011 Templeton Lecture (San Francisco)
2011 "Distinguished" Lecture (Nottingham)
2011 Romanes Lecture (Oxford)
2011 Dennis Sciama Lecture (Oxford and Trieste)
2012 Founders Day Lecture (Bath) 2012 Dalton Lecture (Manchester) 2012 Haldane Lecture (Leicester) 2012 Menelaus Memorial Lecture (Cardiff) 2012 Morgan-Botti Lecture (Cardiff) 2012 Forum Lecture (UC Santa Cruz) 2012 Foundation Lecture (Sydney)
2012 Wall Exchange Lecture (Vancouver) 2012 Statutory Public Lecture (IAS Dublin) 2012 J L Synge Memorial Lecture (T C Dublin) 2012 Natural History Museum Annual Lecture
(London) 2012 Millar Lecture (RSA) 2013 Kelvin Lecture (Royal Phil. Soc. Glasgow) 2013 Williams Lecture (Brown University) 2013 Newton Lecture (Institute of Physics)
2013 Paczynski Lecture (Polish Astronomical
Society)
2014 Roy Soc/Amer Acad. Lecture (Carnegie Institution, Washington)
Society) 2014 Science Policy Lecture (Harvard, Kennedy School) 2014 Christmas Lecture (BAA) 2014 Crafoord Lecture (Lund) 2014 De Waal Lecture (Groningen) 2015 James Martin Lecture (Oxford) 2015 CARA lecture 2016 Nierenberg Lecture (Scripps Institute) 2016 Lindsey Memorial Lecture (Imperial College) 2016 Erasmus Lecture (Academia Europaea) 2017 Lilienfeld Lecture (American Physical
Society) 2017 Carl Sagan Lecture (Cornell University)