The Institute of Astronomy (IoA) is the largest of the three astronomy departments in the University of Cambridge, and one of the largest astronomy sites in the United Kingdom. Around 180 academics, postdocs, visitors and assistant staff work at the department. Research at the department is made in a number of scientific areas, including

exoplanets An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

s, star clusters,

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', and in 1731 taken up in Latin by German philosopher ...

gravitational-wave astronomy Gravitational-wave astronomy is an emerging branch of observational astronomy which aims to use gravitational waves (minute distortions of spacetime predicted by Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity) to collect observational data abo ...

, the high-

redshift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...

universe, AGN,

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System ...

and

galaxy clusters A galaxy cluster, or a cluster of galaxies, is a structure that consists of anywhere from hundreds to thousands of galaxies that are bound together by gravity, with typical masses ranging from 1014 to 1015 solar masses. They are the second- ...

. This is a mixture of observational astronomy, over the entire electromagnetic spectrum, computational theoretical astronomy, and analytic theoretical research. The Kavli Institute for Cosmology is also located on the department site. This institute has an emphasis on ''The Universe at High Redshifts''. The

Cavendish Astrophysics Group The Cavendish Astrophysics Group (formerly the Radio Astronomy Group) is based at the Cavendish Laboratory at the University of Cambridge. The group operates all of the telescopes at the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory except for the 32m MERLI ...

are based in the Battcock Centre, a building in the same grounds.

History

The institute was formed in 1972 from the amalgamation of earlier institutions: * The University Observatory, founded in 1823. Its

Cambridge Observatory Cambridge Observatory is an astronomical observatory at the University of Cambridge in the East of England. It was established in 1823 and is now part of the site of the Institute of Astronomy. The old Observatory building houses the Institute ...

building now houses offices and the department library. * The Solar Physics Observatory, which started in Cambridge in 1912. The building was partly demolished in 2008 to make way for the Kavli Institute for Cosmology. * The Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, which was created by

Fred Hoyle Sir Fred Hoyle FRS (24 June 1915 – 20 August 2001) was an English astronomer who formulated the theory of stellar nucleosynthesis and was one of the authors of the influential B2FH paper. He also held controversial stances on other sci ...

in 1967. Its building is the main departmental site (the Hoyle Building), with a lecture theatre added in 1999, and a second two-storey wing built in 2002. From 1990 to 1998, 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 ...

was based in Cambridge, where it occupied ''Greenwich House'' on a site adjacent to the Institute of Astronomy.

Teaching

The department teaches 3rd and 4th year undergraduates as part of the

Natural Sciences Tripos The Natural Sciences Tripos (NST) is the framework within which most of the science at the University of Cambridge is taught. The tripos includes a wide range of Natural Sciences from physics, astronomy, and geoscience, to chemistry and biology, ...

Mathematical Tripos The Mathematical Tripos is the mathematics course that is taught in the Faculty of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge. It is the oldest Tripos examined at the University. Origin In its classical nineteenth-century form, the tripos was ...

. Around 30 students normally study the masters which consists of a substantial research project (around 1/3 of the masters) and students have an opportunity to study courses such as General Relativity, Cosmology, Black Holes, Extrasolar Planets, Astrophysical Fluid Dynamics, Structure and Evolution of Stars & Formation of Galaxies. In addition, there are around 12 to 18 graduate

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * '' Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. al ...

students at the department per year, mainly funded by the

STFC The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and a ...

. The graduate programme is particularly unusual in the UK as the students are free to choose their own PhD supervisor or adviser from the staff at the department, and this choice is often made as late as the end of their first term.

Notable current staff

An incomplete list of notable current members of the department. * Cathie Clarke * Carolin Crawford * George Efstathiou *

Andrew Fabian Andrew Christopher Fabian (born 20 February 1948) is a British astronomer and astrophysicist. He was Director of the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge from 2013 to 2018. He was a Royal Society Research Professor at the Institu ...

* Gerry Gilmore *

Douglas Gough Douglas Owen Gough FRS (born 8 February 1941)GOUGH, Prof. Douglas Owen
''Who ...

* Paul Hewett * Nikku Madhusudhan * Richard McMahon * Max Pettini * James E. Pringle *

Martin Rees Martin John Rees, Baron Rees of Ludlow One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where: (born 23 June 1942) is a British cosmologist and astrophysicist. He is the fifteenth Astronomer Royal, ...

* Christopher Reynolds (

Plumian Professor of Astronomy The Plumian chair of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy is one of the major professorships in Astronomy at Cambridge University, alongside the Lowndean Professorship (which is now mainly held by mathematicians). The chair is currently held at t ...

) * Christopher Tout * Anna Zytkow

Notable past members and students

Here are some notable members of the department and its former institutes. * Suzanne Aigrain *

George Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of the E ...

Robert Stawell Ball Sir Robert Stawell Ball (1 July 1840 – 25 November 1913) was an Irish astronomer who founded the screw theory. He was Royal Astronomer of Ireland at Dunsink Observatory. Life He was the son of naturalist Robert Ball, and Amelia Gresley He ...

* James Challis *

John Couch Adams John Couch Adams (; 5 June 1819 – 21 January 1892) was a British mathematician and astronomer. He was born in Laneast, near Launceston, Cornwall, and died in Cambridge. His most famous achievement was predicting the existence and position o ...

* Donald Clayton *

Arthur Eddington Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington (28 December 1882 – 22 November 1944) was an English astronomer, physicist, and mathematician. He was also a philosopher of science and a populariser of science. The Eddington limit, the natural limit to the lumi ...

* Richard Ellis *

Roger Griffin Roger David Griffin (born 31 January 1948) is a British professor of modern history and political theorist at Oxford Brookes University, England. His principal interest is the socio-historical and ideological dynamics of fascism, as well as ...

* Stephen Hawking *

Jamal Nazrul Islam Jamal Nazrul Islam (24 February 1939 – 16 March 2013) was a Bangladeshi mathematical physicist and cosmologist. He was a professor at University of Chittagong, served as a member of the advisory board at Shahjalal University of Science and Tec ...

Harold Jeffreys Sir Harold Jeffreys, FRS (22 April 1891 – 18 March 1989) was a British mathematician, statistician, geophysicist, and astronomer. His book, ''Theory of Probability'', which was first published in 1939, played an important role in the revival ...

Donald Lynden-Bell Donald Lynden-Bell CBE FRS (5 April 1935 – 6 February 2018) was a British theoretical astrophysicist. He was the first to determine that galaxies contain supermassive black holes at their centres, and that such black holes power quasars. Ly ...

* Jayant Narlikar * Jeremiah Ostriker *

Robert Woodhouse Robert Woodhouse (28 April 177323 December 1827) was a British mathematician and astronomer. Biography Early life and education Robert Woodhouse was born on 28 April 1773 in Norwich, Norfolk, the son of Robert Woodhouse, linen draper, and Judit ...

Telescopes

The Institute houses several telescopes on its site. Although some scientific work is done with the telescopes, they are mostly used for public observing and astronomical societies. The poor weather and light-pollution in Cambridge makes most modern astronomy difficult. The telescopes on the site include: * Th
Northumberland Telescope
donated by the Duke of Northumberland in 1833. This is a diameter refractor on an English mount. * The smalle
Thorrowgood Telescope
on extended loan from the

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

. The telescope is an refractor. * Th
36-inch Telescope
built in 1951. * Th
Three-Mirror Telescope
which is a prototype telescope with a unique design to have wide field of view, sharp images and all-reflection optics. The institute's former 24" Schmidt Camera was donated to the Spaceguard Centre in

Knighton, Powys Knighton ( cy, Tref-y-clawdd or ) is a cross-border market town and community on the River Teme, straddling the border between Powys, Wales and Shropshire, England. The Teme is not navigable in its higher reaches and the border does not follow ...

in Wales in June 2009. The Cambridge University Astronomical Society (CUAS) and Cambridge Astronomical Association (CAA) both regularly observe. The nstitute holds public observing evenings on Wednesdays from October to March.

Public activities

The department holds a number of events involving the general public in astronomy. These include or have included: * Open evenings on Wednesdays during the winter, with a talk given by a member of the institute followed by observing in clear weather * Hosting the Astroblast conference * Annual sculpture exhibition showing work of

Anglia Ruskin University Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) is a public university in East Anglia, United Kingdom. Its origins are in the Cambridge School of Art, founded by William John Beamont in 1858. It became a university in 1992, and was renamed after John Ruskin in ...

* Annual open day during the Cambridge Science Festival * A monthly podcast, the
Astropod
, aimed at the general public (the Astropod originally ran from 2009 to 2011, and was relaunched in 2020) * Extra observing nights for special events such a
IYA Moonwatch
an
BBC stargazing live

Library

The institute library is housed in the old

building. It is a specialist library concentrating on the subjects of astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. The collection has approximately 17,000 books and subscribes to about 80 current journals. The library also has a collection of rare astronomical books, many of which belonged to

Achievements

Among the significant contributions to astronomy made by the institute, the now decommissioned Automatic Plate Measuring (APM) machine was used to create a major catalogue of astronomical objects in the northern sky.

References

External links

Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge

Kavli Institute of Cosmology, Cambridge

Images from the Institute of Astronomy Library
{{authority control Astronomy institutes and departments Astronomy, Institute of Research institutes in the United Kingdom Astronomy in the United Kingdom Educational institutions established in 1972