F. Richard Stephenson (born Francis Richard Stephenson, 26 April 1941) is an

Emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

Professor at the

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charte ...

, in the

Physics Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...

department and the East Asian Studies department. His research concentrates on historical aspects of astronomy, in particular analyzing ancient astronomical records to reconstruct the history of

Earth's rotation Earth's rotation or Earth's spin is the rotation of planet Earth around its own Rotation around a fixed axis, axis, as well as changes in the orientation (geometry), orientation of the rotation axis in space. Earth rotates eastward, in retrograd ...

. He has an

asteroid An asteroid is a minor planet of the inner Solar System. Sizes and shapes of asteroids vary significantly, ranging from 1-meter rocks to a dwarf planet almost 1000 km in diameter; they are rocky, metallic or icy bodies with no atmosphere. ...

named after him: 10979 Fristephenson.

Bibliography

* & F. Richard Stephenson, ''The Historical supernovae'', Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1977, 233 pages, * F. Richard Stephenson & David H. Clark, ''Applications of Early Astronomical Records'',

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 1979, 124 pages, *

Hermann Hunger Hermann Hunger (born 1942), an Austrian Assyriologist, professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Vienna, from which he retired in 2007. He has been recognized for his work on Babylonian astronomy and celestial omens. Biography Her ...

, Christopher B. F. Walker, Richard Stephenson & Kevin K. C. Yau, ''Halley's Comet in History'',

British Museum Press The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, 1985, 64 pages, * F. Richard Stephenson, ''Supplement to the Tuckerman Tables'',

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

, 1986, 564 pages, * F. Richard Stephenson & M. A. Houlden, ''Atlas of historical eclipse maps. East Asia 1500 BC-AD 1900'',

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

, 1986, * F. Richard Stephenson, "The identification of early returns of comet Halley from ancient astronomical records", p. 203 - 214 in ''Comet Halley. Investigations, results, interpretations, Vol. 2'',

Prentice Hall Prentice Hall was an American major educational publisher owned by Savvas Learning Company. Prentice Hall publishes print and digital content for the 6–12 and higher-education market, and distributes its technical titles through the Safari B ...

, 1990 * F. Richard Stephenson, ''Astronomical Observations from the Ancient Orient'',

, 1990, 350 pages, * F. Richard Stephenson, ''Historical Eclipses and Earth's Rotation'',

, 1997, 573 pages, * F. Richard Stephenson & David A. Green, ''Historical supernovae and their remnants'', Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2002, 252 p.,

External links

Profile
from the Durham University Department of Physics.
Research abstract
from the Durham University East Asian Studies Department.
2014 Doggett Prize Winner - F. Richard Stephenson

Publications by F. R. Stephenson
in the

Astrophysics Data System The SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS) is an online database of over 16 million astronomy and physics papers from both peer reviewed and non-peer reviewed sources. Abstracts are available free online for almost all articles, and full scanned a ...

20th-century British astronomers Academics of Durham University Living people 1941 births {{UK-astronomer-stub