Anthony Patrick (Tony) Fairall (September 15, 1943 – November 22, 2008) was a South African

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

most noted for his work on exploring the

large-scale structure of the Universe The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of th ...

, such as filaments and

voids Void may refer to: Science, engineering, and technology * Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies * Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material * Void, synonym for vacuum, ...

. He was the director of what is now the Iziko planetarium in Cape Town and was a well-known popularizer of astronomy in South Africa. Fairall was born in London and moved with his family to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1948 and then Harare, Zimbabwe in 1953. He studied at the

University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...

, completing his undergraduate degree in 1966. He studied for his doctorate under

Gerard de Vaucouleurs Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this cas ...

and

Fritz Zwicky Fritz Zwicky (; ; February 14, 1898 – February 8, 1974) was a Swiss astronomer. He worked most of his life at the California Institute of Technology in the United States of America, where he made many important contributions in theoretical an ...

at the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public university, public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 stud ...

, receiving his degree in 1970. Fairall discovered and named Fairall 9, the most luminous Seyfert 1 (active) galaxy.

Books

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References

1943 births 2008 deaths South African astronomers {{Astronomer-stub