Gresham Professor of Astronomy

Date: 2019/05/17

Gresham College, London’s oldest Higher Education Institution, has announced the appointment of Professor Katherine Blundell OBE as Gresham Professor of Astronomy from 2019.   
Past Gresham Astronomy Professors have included Sir Christopher Wren and Lord Rees of Ludlow.

As Gresham Professor of Astronomy, Katherine Blundell will continue the 421-year-old tradition of delivering free lectures aimed at the public within the City of London and beyond.   The first series of her lectures is entitled "Cosmic Concepts", and the lectures may be viewed as follows:

• Faster than Light?
• Frozen in time?
• The End of Matter?
• Shapes of Free Fall
• Simple laws, spectacular astrophysics
• Perceptions, Expectations and Discoveries

Professor Katherine Blundell said:
“I am delighted to be appointed Gresham Professor of Astronomy.”

“From the earliest times, humans have looked up at the stars and been fascinated. They learned to use them to find their way, to mark and predict the passage of the seasons.  When we look across the Universe our horizons are broadened and our eyes are lifted above and beyond our own planet.”

“Astronomy is for everyone, and by studying spectacular, evolving and energetic phenomena across the Universe, from black holes to other planets to exploding stars, we can gain insights into our own planet and its resources and destiny.”   

 The Astronomy Professorship is one of the original seven Gresham Professorships established in Sir Thomas Gresham’s will.

Sir Richard Evans, Provost of Gresham College, said:

“We are delighted to have Professor Blundell join Gresham College as Professor of Astronomy. She is a distinguished research scientist, a Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University, and the author of many widely cited scientific papers. She’s also a great science communicator and has brought science projects to schools around the world with her Global Jet Watch observatories.”