The Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College, London, gives free educational lectures to the general public. The college was founded for this purpose in 1597, when it appointed seven professors. Astronomy is one of the original subjects as set out by the will of Thomas Gresham in 1575.
The Professor of Astronomy is appointed in partnership with the City of London Corporation.
List of Gresham Professors of Astronomy Note, years given as, say, 1596/97 refer to Old Style and New Style dates.
Name Started 1 Edward Brerewood March 1596/97 2 Thomas Williams 11 November 1613 3 Edmund Gunter 6 March 1619/20 4 Henry Gellibrand 2 January 1626/27 5 Samuel Foster 2 March 1636/37 6 Mungo Murray 25 November 1637 7 Samuel Foster 26 May 1641 8 Lawrence Rooke 23 July 1652 9 Sir Christopher Wren 7 August 1657 10 Walter Pope 8 March 1660/61 11 Daniel Man 21 September 1687 12 Alexander Torriano 31 July 1691 13 John Machin 16 May 1713 14 William Romaine 25 June 1751 15 William Cockayne 21 April 1752 16 Peter Sandiford 16 July 1795 17 Joseph Pullen 3 December 1833 18 Edmund Ledger 27 July 1875 19 Samuel Arthur Saunder 2 December 1908 20 Arthur Robert Hinks 17 April 1913 (1939–45 Lectures in abeyance) 21 William Herbert Steavenson 29 May 1946 22 Sir John Carroll 1964 23 Sir Martin Ryle 1968 24 Roger Tayler 1969 25 Sir Martin Rees,Baron Rees of Ludlow FRS 1975 26 David W Dewhirst 1976–80 27 Michael Rowan-Robinson 1981 28 Andrew Fabian 1982 29 Raymond Hide 1984 30 George Porter, Baron Porter of Luddenham OM FRS 1 September 1990 31 Heather Couper FRAS 1 September 1993 32 Colin Pillinger FRS 1 September 1996 33 Frank Close OBE 1 September 2000 34 John D Barrow FRS 1 September 2003 35 Ian Morison FRAS 1 August 2007 36 Carolin Crawford 1 August 2011 37 Joseph Silk 2015 38 Katherine Blundell 201939Chris Lintott22 June 2023
See also Astronomer Royal Royal Astronomer of Ireland
Notes
References Gresham College old website, Internet Archive List of professors Some Historical Astronomical Posts In Britain and Ireland
Further reading