Charles Jonathan Penrose Tennyson (born 11 May 1955) is a British physicist. He is the

Massey Massey may refer to: Places Canada * Massey, Ontario * Massey Island, Nunavut New Zealand * Massey, New Zealand, an Auckland suburb United States * Massey, Alabama * Massey, Iowa * Massey, Maryland People * Massey (surname) Educati ...

Professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...

Physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, 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 whi ...

(since 2005) and Head of department at the Department of Physics and Astronomy,

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

(2004–11). Chief Scientist Quantemol Ltd and chair, Blue Skies Space Ltd.

Education

He was educated at

Bootham School Bootham School is a private Quaker boarding school, on Bootham in the city of York in England. It accepts boys and girls ages 3–19 and had an enrolment of 605 pupils in 2016. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England. The school was ...

, York. He continued his studies at

King's College, Cambridge King's College, formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, is a List of colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college lies beside the River Cam and faces ...

and the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

Research and career

Tennyson is an author of over 700 scientific papers focusing on applications of molecular

spectroscopy Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets electromagnetic spectra. In narrower contexts, spectroscopy is the precise study of color as generalized from visible light to all bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Spectro ...

to problems in

astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

atmospheric science Atmospheric science is the study of the Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere and its various inner-working physical processes. Meteorology includes atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics with a major focus on weather forecasting. Clima ...

plasma physics Plasma () is a state of matter characterized by the presence of a significant portion of charged particles in any combination of ions or electrons. It is the most abundant form of ordinary matter in the universe, mostly in stars (including th ...

and other fields. He has written a number of popular science articles. He wrote the undergraduate textbook ''Astronomical Spectroscopy: An Introduction to the Atomic and Molecular Physics of Astronomical Spectra'' (2005). Leader of the ExoMol project.

Awards and honours

He received the 2007 Ellis R. Lippincott Award from

The Optical Society Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

and was also elected a Fellow of the Society. Tennyson was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2009. One or more of the preceding sentences may incorporate text from the royalsociety.org website where "all text published under the heading 'Biography' on Fellow profile pages is available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License." Tennyson was awarded the 2025 Royal Astronomical Society’s Gold Medal for his pioneering work advancing our understanding of exoplanets.

Personal life

He is the son of

Hallam Tennyson Hallam Tennyson, 2nd Baron Tennyson, (11 August 1852 – 2 December 1928) was a British aristocrat who served as the second governor-general of Australia, in office from 1903 to 1904. He was previously Governor of South Australia from 1899 to ...

, grandson of

Sir Charles Tennyson Sir Charles Bruce Locker Tennyson (8 November 1879 – 22 June 1977), a grandson of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, was a civil servant, an industrialist, and an academic of his grandfather. Tennyson was the son of the Hon. Lionel Tennyson and ...

and is the great-great-grandson of

Alfred Lord Tennyson Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (; 6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892) was an English poet. He was the Poet Laureate during much of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1829, Tennyson was awarded the Chancellor's Gold Medal at Cambridge for one of ...

. He is the father of actor

Matthew Tennyson Matthew Tennyson is an English actor of stage and screen. He won the Evening Standard Award for Outstanding Newcomer in 2012. Early life Tennyson was born in Stoke Newington, London, the son of Jonathan Tennyson, a physics professor, and a nu ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tennyson, Jonathan 1955 births Living people British physicists Academics of University College London British people of German descent Fellows of the Royal Society People from Hitchin People educated at Bootham School Jonathan