Professor Michele Dougherty has been approved by King Charles III to be the new Astronomer Royal for UK, and will be the first woman to hold this position since the role was first created 350 years ago.
The role of Astronomer Royal was created in 1675, with the goal of discovering how to determine longitude at sea when out of sight of land, and the holder of this position was based at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
Today, the role is an honourary one, awarded to a prominent astronomer who is expected to advise the Monarch on astronomical matters.
Professor Dougherty will hold the role alongside her current positions as Executive Chair of the Science and Technology Facilities Council, President-elect of the Institute of Physics and a Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London.
Speaking of her new appointment, she said, "I am absolutely delighted to be taking on the important role of Astronomer Royal. As a young child I never thought I’d end up working on planetary spacecraft missions and science, so I can’t quite believe I’m actually taking on this position."
"In this role I look forward to engaging the general public in how exciting astronomy is, and how important it and its outcomes are to our everyday life," she added.
Professor Dougherty was educated at the University of Natal in South Africa, where she was awarded a PhD in 1988 for research on wave-particle interactions in dispersive and anisotropic media.
She was Principal Investigator for the magnetometer instrument onboard the CASSINI-HUYGENS mission to Saturn and its moons and is the Principal Investigator of the magnetometer instrument for the European Space Agency mission, the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE), which is enroute to Jupiter and its moons.
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Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for the 21st May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Britain has struck a major trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), expected to be worth around £3.7 billion ($4.96 billion) a year in the long run.
Britain’s unemployment rate has risen to 5% as the government urges supermarkets to cap prices on essentials including bread, eggs and milk amid mounting pressure over the cost-of-living crisis.
The inaugural Enhanced Games began in Las Vegas on Sunday (24 May), launching one of the most controversial experiments in modern sport, in which athletes openly compete using performance-enhancing drugs banned under traditional anti-doping rules.
A "largely negotiated" memorandum of understanding on an Iran peace deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday, though the Iranian Fars news agency disputed that claim.
A peace agreement between Washington and Tehran is yet to materialise, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying that negotiations are incomplete and an Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman saying that a deal isn't imminent.
Police fired tear gas and clashed with protesters in central Belgrade on Saturday, as tens of thousands gathered to demand early elections and an end to the more than decade-long rule of Serbia's President Aleksandar Vučić.
An explosion on a railway track in Pakistan's Quetta killed at least 24 people, news outlet Al Arabiya reported on Sunday, citing officials.
More than 900 suspected cases of Ebola have been identified, including 101 confirmed cases, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday.
A second group of Australian women and children linked to the Islamic State group has departed a refugee camp in north-east Syria and may return to Australia, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Friday.
Pope Leo urged governments to slow down the development of AI systems in his first major document, released on Monday, warning that they spread misinformation, prioritise conflict and risk leading the world down a path of unending war.
Rescuers pulled two people from the rubble of a collapsed building under construction in the Philippines, raising the death toll to three. Search and rescue operations continued after scans detected signs of life beneath the debris.
At least 28 people have been killed and two remain missing after a landslide hit an illegal gold mine in Angola’s Bengo province, authorities say.
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