Sir Arnold Whittaker Wolfendale
FRS (25 June 1927 – 21 December 2020)
[GRO Register of Births: SEP 1927 6d 1198a RUGBY – Arnold W. Wolfendale, mmn = Hoyle][''The Times'', 30 December 2020, p49 (Subscription required)] was a British astronomer who served as the fourteenth
Astronomer Royal
Astronomer Royal is a senior post in the Royal Households of the United Kingdom. There are two officers, the senior being the Astronomer Royal dating from 22 June 1675; the junior is the Astronomer Royal for Scotland dating from 1834.
The post ...
from 1991 to 1995. He was Professor of Physics at
Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
from 1965 until 1992
and served as president of the
European Physical Society
The European Physical Society (EPS) is a non-profit organisation whose purpose is to promote physics and physicists in Europe through methods such as physics outreach. Formally established in 1968, its membership includes the national physical so ...
(1999–2001).
[Prof Sir Arnold Wolfendale, Debretts Biography](_blank)
He was President of the
Royal Astronomical Society
(Whatever shines should be observed)
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from 1981 to 1983.
Education and background
His family moved to
Flixton,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
when he was 18 months. He attended
Stretford Grammar School near Manchester. Wolfendale graduated with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...
in physics from the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
in 1948, followed by a
PhD in 1953
and a
Doctor of Science
Doctor of Science ( la, links=no, Scientiae Doctor), usually abbreviated Sc.D., D.Sc., S.D., or D.S., is an academic research degree awarded in a number of countries throughout the world. In some countries, "Doctor of Science" is the degree used f ...
in 1970.
Career
During his career he held academic posts at the universities of
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
(1951–6),
Durham University
, mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1)
, established = (university status)
, type = Public
, academic_staff = 1,830 (2020)
, administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19)
, chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen
, vice_chan ...
(1956–92), the
University of Ceylon
The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...
and the
University of Hong Kong
The University of Hong Kong (HKU) (Chinese: 香港大學) is a public research university in Hong Kong. Founded in 1887 as the Hong Kong College of Medicine for Chinese, it is the oldest tertiary institution in Hong Kong. HKU was also the fi ...
. He was Professor of Physics at Durham 1965–92, including a period as head of department, and remained an
emeritus
''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...
professor until his death.
In 1965, he was part of the team that first detected
neutrino
A neutrino ( ; denoted by the Greek letter ) is a fermion (an elementary particle with spin of ) that interacts only via the weak interaction and gravity. The neutrino is so named because it is electrically neutral and because its rest mass ...
s at the
Kolar Gold Fields
Kolar Gold Fields (K.G.F.) is a mining region in K.G.F. taluk (township), Kolar district, Karnataka, India. It is headquartered in Robertsonpet, where employees of Bharat Gold Mines Limited (BGML) and BEML Limited (formerly Bharat Earth Move ...
.
Publications
Arnold Wolfendalepublications in
arxiv.org
arXiv (pronounced "archive"—the X represents the Greek letter chi ⟨χ⟩) is an open-access repository of electronic preprints and postprints (known as e-prints) approved for posting after moderation, but not peer review. It consists of sc ...
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Arnold Wolfendalepublications at the
SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System
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Arnold Wolfendalepublications in
Google Scholar
Google Scholar is a freely accessible web search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly literature across an array of publishing formats and disciplines. Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes p ...
Arnold Wolfendalepublications at
Scopus
Scopus is Elsevier's abstract and citation database launched in 2004. Scopus covers nearly 36,377 titles (22,794 active titles and 13,583 inactive titles) from approximately 11,678 publishers, of which 34,346 are peer-reviewed journals in top-l ...
(subscription required for more than 10)
*Royal Society
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Awards and honours
Wolfendale was elected a fellow of the
Royal Astronomical Society
(Whatever shines should be observed)
, predecessor =
, successor =
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, merged =
, type = NGO ...
in 1973, and a Fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
in 1977.
He served as Astronomer Royal from 1991 to 1995. In 1992, Wolfendale retired from teaching, and he was knighted in 1995. In 1996 he became Professor of Experimental Physics with the
Royal Institution of Great Britain
The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
. A lecture theatre in Durham University's new Calman Learning Centre has been named in his honour. He was an honorary DSc of Bucharest University and foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His nomination for the Royal Society reads
Other Activities
In 1992 Wolfendale became Patron of the
Society for Popular Astronomy
The Society for Popular Astronomy (SPA) is a national astronomical society based in the United Kingdom for beginners to amateur astronomy.
History and overview
It was founded in 1953 as the Junior Astronomical Society by experienced amateur astr ...
and was a keen supporter of its activities. He opened
Kielder Observatory
Kielder Observatory is an astronomical observatory located in Kielder Forest, Northumberland, England. It is situated high upon Black Fell overlooking Kielder Water near the Scottish border, and half a mile up a forest track from James Turrel ...
, Northumberland in 2008, and was its Patron. In 2009 he was the 156th President of the
Birmingham and Midland Institute
, mottoeng = Endless Learning
, established = 1854 by Act of Parliament
, city = Birmingham
, province = West Midlands
, country = United Kingdom
, president = Sir David Cannadine
, vice_president = Dr Serena Trowbridge, Sami ...
.
From April 2013, he was one of the two Honorary Vice Presidents of the
Society for the History of Astronomy
The Society for the History of Astronomy is an organisation based in the United Kingdom that promotes research into the history of astronomy. It publishes a research journal called ''The Antiquarian Astronomer'' and a regular ''Bulletin''.
The s ...
.
Personal life
He married Audrey Darby in 1951. They had twin sons. His wife Audrey died in 2007. He married anthropologist Dorothy Middleton, at Durham Cathedral, on 5 September 2015. Wolfendale died in December 2020 at the age of 93.
Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale, former Astronomer Royal who probed the source of cosmic rays – obituary
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References
External links
Portrait of Sir Arnold Wolfendale at pictures.royalsociety.org
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Prof Sir Arnold Wolfendale
Staff profile at Durham University
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolfendale, Arnold
1927 births
2020 deaths
Academics of Durham University
Alumni of the University of Manchester
Astronomers Royal
20th-century British astronomers
English atheists
Fellows of the Royal Society
Foreign Fellows of the Indian National Science Academy
Knights Bachelor
People educated at Stretford Grammar School
People from Flixton, Greater Manchester
People from Rugby, Warwickshire
Presidents of the Institute of Physics
Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society
Presidents of the European Physical Society