Desmond George King-Hele FRS (3 November 1927 at Seaford in Sussex – 25 December 2019) was a British

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and author who crossed the divide between the arts and science to write extensively about the life of

Erasmus Darwin Erasmus Robert Darwin (12 December 173118 April 1802) was an English physician. One of the key thinkers of the Midlands Enlightenment, he was also a natural philosopher, physiologist, slave-trade abolitionist, inventor, and poet. His poems ...

, whom he linked with the romantic poets Shelley,

Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

, and

Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge (; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poe ...

. In 1957, together with Doreen Gilmour, and as part of the Guided Weapons department of

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...

, he wrote a report proposing the use of the

Blue Streak missile The de Havilland Propellers Blue Streak was a British Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), and later the first stage of the Europa satellite launch vehicle. Blue Streak was cancelled without entering full production. The project was ...

and Black Knight as a satellite launcher. See also Blue Streak Satellite Launch Vehicle.

Life and career

He was born in Seaford, Sussex, the son of Sidney G. and Bessie (née Sayer) King-Hele and was educated at

Epsom College Epsom College is a co-educational independent school on Epsom Downs, Surrey, England, for pupils aged 11 to 18. It was founded in 1853 as a boys' school to provide support for poor members of the medical profession such as pensioners and orpha ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He joined the

, Farnborough in 1948 and stayed there until 1988, researching the

gravity of Earth The gravity of Earth, denoted by , is the net acceleration that is imparted to objects due to the combined effect of gravitation (from mass distribution within Earth) and the centrifugal force (from the Earth's rotation). It is a vector quanti ...

and its

upper atmosphere Upper atmosphere is a collective term that refers to various layers of the atmosphere of the Earth above the troposphere and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets, and includes: * The mesosphere, which on Earth lies between the ...

by satellite orbit determination. He was awarded the

Eddington Medal The Eddington Medal is awarded by the Royal Astronomical Society for investigations of outstanding merit in theoretical astrophysics. It is named after Sir Arthur Eddington. First awarded in 1953, the frequency of the prize has varied over the year ...

of the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...

in 1971 for his work on the geophysical application of the study of the

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

s of

artificial satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisoto ...

s. He was elected a

fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in March 1966. He is considered "one of the pioneers of

space geodesy Space geodesy is geodesy by means of sources external to Earth, mainly artificial satellites (in satellite geodesy) but also quasars (in very-long-baseline interferometry, VLBI), visible stars (in stellar triangulation), and the retroreflectors on ...

". Based on satellite geodesy, King-Hele refined the estimate for

Earth's pear shape Figure of the Earth is a term of art in geodesy that refers to the size and shape used to model Earth. The size and shape it refers to depend on context, including the precision needed for the model. A sphere is a well-known historical approxima ...

, finding a 45 m difference between north and south polar radii. He married Marie Newman in 1954; they had two daughters. He won the

Chree medal and prize The Edward Appleton Medal and Prize is awarded by the Institute of Physics for distinguished research in environmental, earth or atmospheric physics. Originally named after Charles Chree, the British physicist and former President of the Physica ...

in 1971. In 1973, he correctly predicted that

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations in ...

would re-enter Earth's atmosphere in 1979. King-Hele died on 25 December 2019.King-Hele
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Publications

* ''Satellites and Scientific Research'' 1962 * ''Shelley: His Thought and Work'' 1962 * ''Erasmus Darwin'' 1963 * ''Theory of Satellite Orbits in an Atmosphere'' 1964 * ''Doctor of Revolution'' 1977 * ''Observing Earth Satellites'' 1983 * ''Shelley: His Thought and Work'' 1984 * ''Erasmus Darwin and the Romantic Poets'' 1986 * ''A Tapestry of Orbits'' 1992, 2005 * ''Erasmus Darwin: A Life of Unequalled Achievement'' 1999 * ''Erasmus Darwin and Evolution'' 2014 He is also the author of two books of poetry, and of various articles published in journals, such as "Shelley and Science", ''Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London'', Vol. 46, No. 2 (Jul., 1992), pp. 253-265.

References

External links

* Text of the award speech * Early plans for a Blue Streak-based satellite launcher
Listen to an oral history interview with Desmond King-Hele
- a life story interview recorded fo
An Oral History of British Science
at the British Library
Author profile at Google Books
1927 births 2019 deaths People from Seaford, East Sussex British physicists Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at Epsom College {{UK-physicist-stub