| Date of Birth | 23 June 1942 |
| Degrees | |
| 1963 | BA (Mathematics) |
| Trinity College, Cambridge | |
| 1967 | MA, Ph.D |
| Currently: | |
| 2012 | Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| 1995- | Astronomer Royal |
| 2001- | Honorary Professor: Imperial College, London and Leicester University |
| Previous Jobs: | |
| 1968 | Research Fellow, Caltech |
| 1967-69 | Fellow, Jesus College, Cambridge |
| 1967-72 | Staff member, Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, Cambridge |
| 1969-72 | Senior Research Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1969-70 | Member, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey |
| Spring 1971 | Visiting Associate Professor, Caltech |
| 1972, 1988-89 | Visiting Professor, Harvard University |
| 1972-73 | Professor, Sussex University |
| 1976-77 | Gresham Professor of Astronomy |
| 1982, 1996, 1997 | Visiting Professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| Jan-June 1984 | Joint Coordinator of programme on galaxy formation, etc. at Institute of Theoretical Physics, Santa Barbara |
| 1984-88 | Regents Visiting Fellow of Smithsonian Institution |
| 1973-91 | Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy, Cambridge University |
| Spring 1995 | JSPS visitor, Kyoto University |
| 1977-82 and 1987-91 | Director, Institute of Astronomy |
| 1973-91 | Professorial Fellow, King's College, Cambridge |
| 1992-2003 | Royal Society Professor at Cambridge University |
| 1992-2003 | Official Fellow King's College, Cambridge |
| 2002-2009 | Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics, Cambridge |
| 2004-2012 | Master of Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Society and Academy Memberships: | |
| 1975 | Foreign Honorary Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 1979 | Fellow of Royal Society |
| 1981 | Fellow of Institute of Physics (Honorary Fellow 2001- ) |
| 1982 | Foreign Associate: National Academy of Sciences (USA) |
| 1989 | Member of Academia Europaea |
| 1989-99 | Fellow of Institute of Mathematics and its Applications |
| 1990 | Member of Pontifical Academy of Sciences |
| 1990 | Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences |
| 1993 | Foreign Member: American Philosophical Society |
| 1993 | Foreign Member: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| 1994 | Honorary Member: Russian Academy of Sciences |
| 1996 | Honorary Member: Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters |
| 1996 | Foreign Member, Academia Lincei |
| 1998 | Foreign Member, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 2001 | Honorary Fellow of British Association |
| 2003 | Foreign Member Finnish Society of Sciences and Letters |
| 2007 | Honorary Fellow: Royal Academy of Engineering |
| 2007 | Associate Fellow: T W A S |
| 2012 | Honorary Fellow: Academy of Medical Sciences |
| 2012 | Foreign Member: Turkish Academy of Sciences |
| 2012 | Honorary Fellow: British Academy |
| 2014 | Foreign Member: Japan Academy |
| 2016 | Honorary Fellow: Learned Society of Wales |
| Awards and honours: | |
| 1975 | H. P. Robertson Award & Lectureship (Nat. Acad. Sci.) |
| 1982 | Hopkins Prize (Cam. Phil. Soc.) |
| 1984 | Heineman Prize for Astrophysics (A.I.P.) |
| 1986 | Bappu Memorial Award of Indian Nat. Sci. Acad. |
| 1987 | Gold Medal of Royal Astron. Soc |
| 1989 | Guthrie Medal and Prize. Inst. of Physics (UK) |
| 1989 | Karl Schwarzschild Award of Astronomische Gesellschaft |
| 1989 | Balzan Prize |
| 1990 | Robinson Prize for Cosmology |
| 1991 | Officier dans I'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres |
| 1992 | Knight Batchelor |
| 1993 | Bruce Medal, Astr. Soc. Pacific |
| 1996 | Science writing award. American Institute of Physics |
| 1998 | Bower Prize and Award for Science, Franklin Institute |
| 2000 | Golden Plate Award, International Academy of Achievement |
| 2000 | Rossi prize (AAS) |
| 2001 | Cosmology Prize, Gruber Foundation |
| 2003 | Einstein Award of World Cultural Council |
| 2004 | Descartes Prize (member of winning collaboration) |
| 2004 | Faraday Award (Roy Soc) |
| 2005 | Crafoord Prize (Royal Swedish Academy) |
| 2005 | Life Peerage |
| 2005 | Niels Bohr Medal (UNESCO) |
| 2007 | Order of Merit |
| 2011 | Templeton Prize |
| 2012 | Newton Prize (Institute of Physics) |
| 2013 | Paczynski Medal (Warsaw) |
| 2013 | Dirac Medal and Prize (ICTP) |
| 2015 | Nierenberg Prize (Scripps Institute) |
| 2015 | Order of the Rising Sun (Gold and Silver Star) (Japan) |
| Hon. DSc. | |
| Sussex (1990), Leicester (1993), Copenhagen (1995), Keele (1995), Uppsala (1995), Newcastle (1995), Toronto (1996), Durham (1999), Oxford (2000), Ohio (2006), Exeter (2006), Hull (2007), Yale (2008), Open University (2008), Liverpool (2008), King's College, London (2008), McMaster (2009), East Anglia (2009), Melbourne (2010), Portsmouth (2011), Sydney (2012), ETH Zurich (2012), Cambridge (2014), Greenwich (2014), Harvard (2016) | |
| Hon. D. Litt | University of London (2011), University of Bath (2015) |
| Hon. Fellow | |
| Cardiff University (1998),Trinity College, Cambridge (1995), Jesus College, Cambridge (1996), Darwin College, Cambridge (2004), King's College, Cambridge (2007), John Moores University, Liverpool (2008), Isaac Newton Institute (2012), City and Guilds (2012), Science Museum (2013) | |
| Committees (mainly past) | |
| 1992-94 | President, Royal Astronomical Society (Council member 1972-75) |
| 1995-96 | President, British Association for the Advancement of Science (Council 1994-01) |
| 1996-02 | Trustee of British Museum |
| 1998- | Trustee of Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton |
| 1998-01 | Trustee of NESTA |
| 1999-04 | Trustee: Kennedy Memorial Trust (UK) |
| 1997- | President: British Physics Olympiad Committee |
| 1998-07 | Chairman: Victor Rothschild Memorial Trust |
| 2001-08 | Trustee: Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) |
| 2003-11 | Trustee: National Museum of Science and Industry |
| 2004- | Council: Foundation for Science and Technology |
| 2004-12 | Governor: Westminster School |
| 2005- | Trustee: Gates Cambridge Trust |
| 2005-10 | President Royal Society (Council member 1983-5 and 1993-5) |
| 2006- | Board Member: Science, Technology and Society Forum (Kyoto) |
| 2008-09 | Council Member: Royal Institution |
| 2008-13 | Governing Board, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology |
| 2012-13 | President: Association for Science Education |
Current and recent advisory boards
Oxford Martin School
Grantham Institute (IC and LSE)
Ditchley Foundation (Hon. Governor)
Santa Fe Institute
ICTP Salam Institute
NTU Singapore (Complexity Programme)
Life Stories (British Library)
Pontifical Academy of Sciences (Council)
House of Lords S & T Committee
Samuel Johnson Book Prize (Chair of Judges)
Oxford Martin Commission on future generations
BASIC commission on nuclear weapons
Anniversary Longitude Prize Advisory Board (Chair)
Breakthrough "Listen" project board (Chair)
| Other previous external academic activities | |
| IAU: | President of Commission on High Energy Astrophysics (No. 48) (1973-76); organising committee, commissions 47, 51. Special nominating committee (1994- ) |
| ESRO/ESA: |
Member of various committees and panels, Chairman of Scientific Advisory Committee (1976-78) |
| EPS: | Board member (and first secretary) of Astronomy and Astrophysics Division |
| SERC/PPARC | Member of various committees and panels; member ASR Board (1977-80), PPARC Council (1994-1997) |
| EU: | CODEST Physics Panel (1992-94) |
| BNSC: | Science Board (1986-88) |
| COPUS: | Member (1995-00) |
Member of editorial boards for Reviews of Modern Physics, Oxford Monographs in Physics, Contemporary Physics, Astronomy and Astrophysics Reviews, Physics World, Bulletin of Atomic Scientists and other journals.
Have directed 6 NATO-sponsored Advanced Study Institutes, and been involved in organisation of many conferences, summer schools, etc.
Visiting Committee Max Planck Institute, Munich, (1976-88), BBC Science Consultative Committee (1984-88) Advisory Committees for Indian Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (1989-92), SISSA, Trieste (1992-6), Niels Bohr Institute (1993-6), IAC, Spain (1995-7), NOVA (Holland) (2000-4) and Caltech Physical Sciences (2000), Committee for Exhibition of 1851 (2002-5), (also numerous 'ad hoc' visiting/advisory committees in UK and overseas).
Special Lectures
| 1972 | Kelvin Lecturer (British Association) |
| 1975 |
Lindsay Memorial Lecturer
(NASA, Washington) |
| 1975 | H.P. Robertson Memorial Lecturer (Nat. Acad.Sci.) |
| 1976-77 | Gresham Lecturer (London) |
| 1976 | George Darwin Lecturer (R.A.S) |
| 1978 | Halley Lecturer (Oxford) |
| 1979 | Tyndall Lecturer (Bristol) |
| 1979 | Larmor Lecturer (Cam. Phil. Soc.) |
| 1979 | Tolansky Lecturer (Roy. Soc. Arts) |
| 1980 | Tizard Lecturer (Westminster) |
| 1980 | Loeb Lecturer (Harvard) |
| 1980 | Milne Lecturer (Oxford) |
| 1981 | "Distinguished Lecturer" (U. of Alberta) |
| 1981 | Jansky Lecturer (NRAO, USA) |
| 1982 | Lockyer Memorial Lecturer (Exeter) |
| 1982 | Behr Lecturer (Pittsburgh U./Carnegie Mellon U.) |
| 1982 | Redman Lecturer (McMaster U.) |
| 1982 | Bakerian Lecturer (Royal Society) |
| 1982 | Miller Lecturer (Illinois) |
| 1983 | Marlar Lecturer (UCSD) |
| 1984 | Danz Lecturer (U. of Washington) |
| 1984 | Bunyan Lecturer (Stanford U.) |
| 1984 | Ida Beam Visiting Professor (U. of Iowa) |
| 1984 | Clark Lecturer (Glasgow U.) |
| 1986 | Sackler Lecturer (Tel Aviv) |
| 1987 | Hubble Lecturer (Space Telescope Inst. Baltimore) |
| 1987 | Lauritsen Lecturer (Caltech) |
| 1988 | Invited discourse (IAU General Assembly) |
| 1989 | Schwarzschild Lecturer (Astronomische Gesellschaft) |
| 1990 | Gold Lecturer (Cornell) |
| 1991 | Celsius Lecturer (Uppsala) |
| 1992 | Lezioni Lincee (Accademia Lincei, Rome/Milan) |
| 1994 | Cecil and Ida Green Visiting Professor (UBC) |
| 1995 | Hitchcock Visiting Professor (UC Berkeley) |
| 1995 | Delphasus Lecturer (UC Santa Cruz) |
| 1995 | Marker Lecturer (Pennsylvania State U) |
| 1996 | Schiaparelli Lecturer (Accademia Lincei) |
| 1997 | Sackler Lecturer (Toronto) |
| 1997 | Royal Palace Symposium speaker (Amsterdam) |
| 1998 | Rutherford/Canada Lecturer (Royal Society) |
| 1998 | Mautner Lecturer (U C Los Angeles) |
| 1998 | Hays Lecturer (Pittsburgh) |
| 1998 | Rossi Lecturer (Florence) |
| 1999 | Pauli Lecturer (ETH, Zurich) |
| 1999 | "Distinguished" Lecturer (U Victoria and DAO, Canada) |
| 1999 | Leverhulme Lecturer (Liverpool) |
| 2000 | Scribner Lecturer (Princeton) |
| 2000 | Gamow Memorial Lecturer (Colorado U) |
| 2000 | Larmor Lecturer (Belfast) |
| 2001 | Brickwedde Lecturer (Johns Hopkins U) |
| 2001 | John Darius Lecturer (Science Museum) |
| 2001 | Centenary Lecture Series (City of Melbourne) |
| 2001 | McCrea Lecturer (Royal Irish Academy) |
| 2002 | Grubb Parsons Lecturer (Durham) |
| 2002 | Oskar Klein Lecturer (Stockholm) |
| 2003 | Petrie Lecturer (RAS Canada) |
| 2003 | Simonyi Lecturer (Oxford) |
| 2003 | Ove Nathan Lecturer (Danish Academy) |
| 2003 | Wu Lecturer (U Michigan) |
| 2003 | Johnson Lecturer (National Maritime Museum) |
| 2004 | Gresham Mansion House Lecturer (London) |
| 2004 | Russell Lecturer (Amer. Astron. Soc.) |
| 2005 | Faraday Lecturer (Royal Soc) |
| 2005 | Messenger Lecturer (Cornell U) |
| 2005 | Oppenheimer Lecturer (UC Berkeley) |
| 2006 | Chatham Lecturer (Oxford) |
| 2006 | Foster Lecturer (London) |
| 2006 | Queen's Lecturer (Berlin) |
| 2007 | Gifford Lecturer (St Andrews) |
| 2007 | Blackett Memorial Lecturer (Delhi) |
| 2007 | Rajiv Gandhi Lecturer (Bangalore) |
| 2007 | Pardee Lecturer (Boston University) |
| 2007 | Caird Medal Lecture (National Maritime Museum) |
| 2008 | Reimar Lust Lecture (MPG) |
| 2008 | Wolfson Haldane Lecture (Oxford) |
| 2008 | Aurelio Peccei Lecture (Rome) |
| 2008 | Ditchley Lecture |
| 2008 | Roscoe Lecture (Liverpool) |
| 2008 | Athenaeum Lecture |
| 2009 | James Martin Lecture (Oxford) |
| 2009 | Lee Kuan Yew Distinguished Visitor Lectures (Singapore) |
| 2009 | Hon. Fellowship Lecture (Cam Phil Soc) |
| 2009 | Lord Speaker's Lecture (House of Lords) |
| 2010 | Rutherford Lectures (Christchurch and Wellington, New Zealand) |
| 2010 | Derek Denton Lecture (Melbourne, Australia) |
| 2010 | Reith Lectures (BBC) |
| 2010 | Lewis Thomas Lecture (Rockefeller University) |
| 2010 | Cockcroft-Rutherford Lecture (Manchester) |
| 2011 | Kohn Lecture (Imperial College) |
| 2011 | Beyond Lecture (Arizona) |
| 2011 | Benson Lecture (Chicago) |
| 2011 | Barringer Lecture (Nat Hist Mus) |
| 2011 | Erasmus Darwin Lecture (Lichfield) |
| 2011 | Templeton Lecture (San Francisco) |
| 2011 | "Distinguished" Lecture (Nottingham) |
| 2011 | Romanes Lecture (Oxford) |
| 2011 | Dennis Sciama Lecture (Oxford and Trieste) |
| 2012 | Founders Day Lecture (Bath) |
| 2012 | Dalton Lecture (Manchester) |
| 2012 | Haldane Lecture (Leicester) |
| 2012 | Menelaus Memorial Lecture (Cardiff) |
| 2012 | Morgan-Botti Lecture (Cardiff) |
| 2012 | Forum Lecture (UC Santa Cruz) |
| 2012 | Foundation Lecture (Sydney) |
| 2012 | Wall Exchange Lecture (Vancouver) |
| 2012 | Statutory Public Lecture (IAS Dublin) |
| 2012 | J L Synge Memorial Lecture (T C Dublin) |
| 2012 | Natural History Museum Annual Lecture (London) |
| 2012 | Millar Lecture (RSA) |
| 2013 | Kelvin Lecture (Royal Phil. Soc. Glasgow) |
| 2013 | Williams Lecture (Brown University) |
| 2013 | Newton Lecture (Institute of Physics) |
| 2013 | Paczynski Lecture (Polish Astronomical Society) |
| 2014 | Roy Soc/Amer Acad. Lecture (Carnegie Institution, Washington) Society) |
| 2014 | Science Policy Lecture (Harvard, Kennedy School) |
| 2014 | Christmas Lecture (BAA) |
| 2014 | Crafoord Lecture (Lund) |
| 2014 | De Waal Lecture (Groningen) |
| 2015 | James Martin Lecture (Oxford) |
| 2015 | CARA lecture |
| 2016 | Nierenberg Lecture (Scripps Institute) |
| 2016 | Lindsey Memorial Lecture (Imperial College) |
| 2016 | Erasmus Lecture (Academia Europaea) |
| 2017 | Lilienfeld Lecture (American Physical Society) |
| 2017 | Carl Sagan Lecture (Cornell University) |