Sir James Hough (born 6 August 1945) is 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 cau ...

and an international leader in the search for gravitational waves.

Career and research

Hough has held the following professional positions: * Professor of experimental physics at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. * Director of the Institute of Gravitational Research at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. * Member of the

LISA Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa Lisa (born 1967), American actress and lead singer of the Cult Jam * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA", Japanese singer and producer * Lisa Komine (born 1978), J ...

International Science Team. * Delegate to the

LIGO The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) is a large-scale physics experiment and observatory designed to detect cosmic gravitational waves and to develop gravitational-wave observations as an astronomical tool. Two large ...

Council. * Chair of the ''Education, Training and Careers Committee'' and the ''Fellowships Panel'' of the

Science and Technology Facilities Council 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 astro ...

Awards and honours

* 2003 Hough 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 knowledge, including mathemat ...

. * 2004 Hough was awarded the

Duddell Medal and Prize The Dennis Gabor Medal and Prize (previously the Duddell Medal and Prize until 2008) is a prize awarded biannually by the Institute of Physics for distinguished contributions to the application of physics in an industrial, commercial or busines ...

, a senior award from the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, research and application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide membership of over 20,000. The IOP is the Physic ...

. The award is made annually to "an individual or team for outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge through the application of physics, including invention or design of scientific instruments or by the discovery of materials used in their construction." * 2008 Hough was awarded the

Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize The Gunning Victoria Jubilee Prize Lectureship is a quadrennial award made by the Royal Society of Edinburgh to recognise original work done by scientists resident in or connected with Scotland. The award was founded in 1887 by Dr Robert Halliday ...

of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his work on gravitational waves * 2013 Hough was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to science. * 2015 Hough was awarded the Institute of Physics

Phillips Award The Institute of Physics awards numerous prizes to acknowledge contributions to physics research, education and applications. It also offers smaller specific subject-group prizes, such as for PhD thesis submissions. Bilateral awards * The Max B ...

. * 2018 Awarded the

Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society The Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society is the highest award given by the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS). The RAS Council have "complete freedom as to the grounds on which it is awarded" and it can be awarded for any reason. Past awar ...

for Astronomy * 2019 Hough was knighted (Knight Bachelor) by The Duke of Cambridge during a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on 31 January 2019, in recognition of Hough's international leadership in the search for gravitational waves ~ 'ripples' in the fabric of space-time. * 2020 Hough was awarded the Royal Society's Bakerian Medal in 2020 *2021 Became Honorary Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers.

Appearances in media

Hough received widespread media coverage in 2004 when he placed a

bet Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los ...

, against the

odds Odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. They are calculated as the ratio of the number of events that produce that outcome to the number that do not. Odds are commonly used in gambling and statistics. Odds also have ...

, of detecting gravitational waves before 2010. The original odds were set at 500/1, but following huge interest, the

betting Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

company were forced to cut their odds to 6/1. In April 2007, during the run-up to the Scottish Parliamentary elections, Hough signed an

open letter An open letter is a letter that is intended to be read by a wide audience, or a letter intended for an individual, but that is nonetheless widely distributed intentionally. Open letters usually take the form of a letter addressed to an indiv ...

, along with sixty-one other top Scottish scientists, backing the retention of the

Union Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

between

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and England. They were concerned that Scottish independence would have "detrimental consequences for the health of the Scottish science base and for the long term viability of the Scottish economy and society."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hough, James 1945 births Living people Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Officers of the Order of the British Empire Scottish physicists Academics of the University of Glasgow Knights Bachelor Recipients of the Gold Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society Fellows of the American Physical Society