Malcolm Sim Longair (born 18 May 1941)Anon (2017) is a British physicist. From 1991 to 2008 he was the

Jacksonian Professor of Natural Philosophy The Jacksonian Professorship of Natural Philosophy is one of the senior chairs in natural philosophy, Natural and Experimental philosophy at University of Cambridge, Cambridge University. It was founded in 1782 by a bequest from the Reverend Ri ...

in the

Cavendish Laboratory The Cavendish Laboratory is the Department of Physics at the University of Cambridge, and is part of the School of Physical Sciences. The laboratory was opened in 1874 on the New Museums Site as a laboratory for experimental physics and is named ...

at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. Since 2016 he has been

Editor-in-Chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society The ''Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society'' is an academic journal on the history of science published annually by the Royal Society. It publishes obituaries of Fellows of the Royal Society. It was established in 1932 as ''Obi ...

''.

Education

He was born on 18 May 1941, and educated at

Morgan Academy Morgan Academy is a Secondary School, secondary school in the Stobswell area of Dundee, Scotland. Morgan Academy was founded in 1889 and is the second oldest state school in Dundee behind Harris Academy. History The building was designed in 18 ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, Scotland. He graduated in Electronic Physics from Queen's College, Dundee, which later became the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee is a public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a university college in 1881 with a donation from the prominent Baxter family of textile manufacturers. The institution was, for most of its ...

, but was then part of the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

, in 1963. He became a research student in the Radio Astronomy Group of the

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, where he completed his

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

in 1967 supervised by Martin Ryle.

Career and research

From 1968 to 1969, he was a

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 ...

Exchange Visitor to the Lebedev Institute of the

USSR Academy of Sciences The Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union was the highest scientific institution of the Soviet Union from 1925 to 1991. It united the country's leading scientists and was subordinated directly to the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (u ...

, where he worked with

Vitaly Ginzburg Vitaly Lazarevich Ginzburg ForMemRS (; – 8 November 2009) was a Russian physicist who was honored with the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2003, together with Alexei Abrikosov and Anthony Leggett for their "pioneering contributions to the theory ...

and

Yakov Zeldovich Yakov Borisovich Zeldovich (, ; 8 March 1914 – 2 December 1987), also known as YaB, was a leading Soviet people, Soviet Physics, physicist of Belarusians, Belarusian origin, who is known for his prolific contributions in physical Physical c ...

. He held a Fellowship of the

Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 The Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 is an institution founded in 1850 to administer the Great Exhibition, Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, which was held in The Crystal Palace, London. The founding Presid ...

from 1966 to 1968 and was a Fellow of

Clare Hall, Cambridge Clare Hall is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1966 by Clare College, Clare Hall is a college for advanced study, admitting only postgraduate students alongside postdoctoral researchers and fellows. It was est ...

from 1967 to 1980. He has held visiting professorships at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...

(1972), the

Institute for Advanced Study The Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) is an independent center for theoretical research and intellectual inquiry located in Princeton, New Jersey. It has served as the academic home of internationally preeminent scholars, including Albert Ein ...

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

(1978), the Center for Astrophysics Harvard & Smithsonian (1990) and the

Space Telescope Science Institute The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is the science operations center for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), science operations and mission operations center for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and science operations center for the ...

(1997). From 1980 to 1990, he held the joint posts of Astronomer Royal for Scotland, Regius Professor of Astronomy of the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

and Director of the

Royal Observatory, Edinburgh The Royal Observatory, Edinburgh (ROE) is an Astronomy, astronomical institution located on Blackford Hill in Edinburgh. The site is owned by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). The ROE comprises the UK Astronomy Technology Cen ...

. He is a Professorial Fellow and Vice-President of Clare Hall, Cambridge. He was Deputy Head of the

with special responsibility for the teaching of physics from 1991 to 1997, and Head of the

from 1997 to 2005. Longair's primary research interests are in the fields of high-energy astrophysics and astrophysical cosmology. He has written eight books and many articles on this work. His most recent publication is the second edition of his ''Theoretical Concepts in Physics'', released in December 2003. His other interests include music, mountain walking (completing the

Munro A Munro (; ) is defined as a mountain in Scotland with a height over , and which is on the Scottish Mountaineering Club (SMC) official list of Munros; there is no explicit topographical prominence requirement. The best known Munro is Ben Nevi ...

s in 2011), art, architecture and golf. he is the

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

of the ''

'' and has authored or co-authored biographies of John E. Baldwin,

Brian Pippard Sir Alfred Brian Pippard, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (7 September 1920 – 21 September 2008), was a British physicist. He was Cavendish Professor of Physics from 1971 until 1982 and an Honorary Fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge, of which h ...

Geoffrey Burbidge Geoffrey Ronald Burbidge (24 September 1925 – 26 January 2010) was an English astronomy professor and theoretical astrophysicist, most recently at the University of California, San Diego. He was married to astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge ...

and David J. C. MacKay. During his career, he supervised numerous PhD students including Jim Dunlop, Stephen Gull, Simon Lilly and John Peacock.

Awards and honours

Longair has received numerous awards, including: *1986 - the first Britannica Award for the Dissemination of Learning and the Enrichment of Life *1990 - In December 1990, he delivered the series of

Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including yo ...

for Young People on television on the topic 'The Origins of Our Universe'. *1991 - From 1991 to 1992 he was President of the Physics Section of the

British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...

. *1994 - Awarded the 1994 Science Prize of the

Saltire Society The Saltire Society is a membership organisation which aims to promote the understanding of the culture and heritage of Scotland, founded in 1936. The society organises lectures and publishes pamphlets, and presents a series of awards in the fiel ...

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

Annual award. *1994 - Chairman of the

Gemini Gemini most often refers to: * Gemini (constellation), one of the constellations of the zodiac * Gemini (astrology), an astrological sign Gemini may also refer to: Science and technology Space * Gemini in Chinese astronomy, the Gemini constellat ...

Board, the international project to build 8-metre telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres, for the years 1994 and 1995. *1995 - In 1995, he was Selby Fellow of the

Australian Academy of Science The Australian Academy of Science was founded in 1954 by a group of distinguished Australians, including Australian Fellows of the Royal Society of London. The first president was Sir Mark Oliphant. The academy is modelled after the Royal Soci ...

and took a lecture demonstration entitled 'Measuring the Fundamentals' around all the state capitals of Australia. *1995 - Chairman of the

Council for 1995–6. *1996 - President of the

Royal Astronomical Society The Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) is a learned society and charitable organisation, charity that encourages and promotes the study of astronomy, planetary science, solar-system science, geophysics and closely related branches of science. Its ...

1996–8. *2000 - Appointed CBE in the

2000 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2000 for the United Kingdom and New Zealand were announced on 31 December 1999, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2000. The ''Honours list'' is a list of people who have been awarded one of the various or ...

List. *2004 - Elected a

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

(FRS). One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from the royalsociety.org website where:

Personal life

Since 1975, Longhair has been married to Deborah Howard, an architectural historian. Together they have two children.

Selected publications

;Books * 2nd: pbk, 1992, 440pp., * * * revised and enlarged 2nd edition: 2003, 588pp., * * ;Papers: he had published 298 papers. *

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Longair, Malcolm 1941 births Living people Scottish astronomers Fellows of the Royal Society Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Harvard University staff Academics of the University of Edinburgh Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Fellows of Clare Hall, Cambridge Jacksonian Professors of Natural Philosophy Alumni of the University of Cambridge Alumni of the University of St Andrews Scottish physicists Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society Scientists from Dundee People educated at Morgan Academy Alumni of the University of Dundee Scientists of the Cavendish Laboratory