The Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory was the senior scientist responsible for the administration of the

Royal Greenwich Observatory The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in G ...

from 1972 until the institution's closure in 1998.

History

Executive responsibility for the

Royal Observatory, Greenwich The Royal Observatory, Greenwich (ROG; known as the Old Royal Observatory from 1957 to 1998, when the working Royal Greenwich Observatory, RGO, temporarily moved south from Greenwich to Herstmonceux) is an observatory situated on a hill in ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, had rested with the

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 the institution's foundation in 1675. This practice continued when the observatory moved to

Herstmonceux Castle Herstmonceux Castle is a brick-built castle, dating from the 15th century, near Herstmonceux, East Sussex, England. It is one of the oldest significant brick buildings still standing in England. The castle was renowned for being one of the f ...

in 1948 and was renamed the Royal Greenwich Observatory. However, the title Astronomer Royal was separated from directorship of the observatory after the retirement of

Richard Woolley Sir Richard van der Riet Woolley OBE FRS (24 April 1906 – 24 December 1986) was an English astronomer who became the eleventh Astronomer Royal. His mother's maiden name was Van der Riet. Biography Woolley was born in Weymouth, Dorset ...

in 1971. Following this,

Margaret Burbidge Eleanor Margaret Burbidge, FRS (; 12 August 1919 – 5 April 2020) was a British-American observational astronomer and astrophysicist. In the 1950s, she was one of the founders of stellar nucleosynthesis and was first author of the influentia ...

was appointed Director, and Sir Martin Ryle (1918–1984) was appointed Astronomer Royal in an honorary capacity. The Astronomer Royal no longer had any association with the observatory after this time. Directors took action to modernise the institution and to establish a new observatory on the island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...

in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. The Director oversaw the move of the Royal Greenwich Observatory from Herstmonceux to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

in 1990, and continued in charge until the observatory was closed by the

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) was one of a number of research councils in the United Kingdom. It directed, coordinated and funded research in particle physics and astronomy for the people of the UK. Its head office w ...

in 1998. The post expired with the institution.

Holders of the office

The Directors of the Royal Greenwich Observatory as a post distinct from Astronomer Royal were: * 1972–1973

* 1973–1975 Alan Hunter (1912–1995){{cite journal , last = Murray , first = C. Andrew , title = Alan Hunter CBE (1912–1995) , journal =

Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society ''Astronomy & Geophysics'' (''A&G'') is a scientific journal and trade magazine published on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) by Oxford University Press. It publishes a mixture of content of interest to astronomers and geophysicists: ...

, volume = 37 , issue = 3 , pages = 457–459 , publisher =

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

, location = London , year = 1996 , bibcode = 1996QJRAS..37..457M * 1976–1981

Francis Graham Smith Sir Francis Graham-Smith (born 25 April 1923) is a British astronomer. He was the thirteenth Astronomer Royal from 1982 to 1990 and was knighted in 1986. Biography Education He was educated at Rossall School, Lancashire, England, and attended ...

* 1981–1995

Alexander Boksenberg Alexander Boksenberg Order of the British Empire, CBE Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (born 18 March 1936) is a British scientist. He won the 1999 Hughes Medal of the Royal Society "for his landmark discoveries concerning the nature of active gal ...

* 1995–1998 Jasper Wall

References

Lists of British people Lists of scientists by membership Royal Observatory, Greenwich