View source for Francis Graham-Smith

{{Short description|British astronomer (1923–2025)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Sir Francis Graham Smith
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS|size=100}}
| image = Francis Graham Smith.jpg
| caption = Smith in 2009
| birth_date = {{birth date|1923|4|25|df=y}}
| birth_place = 
| death_date = {{death date and age|2025|6|20|1923|4|25|df=y}}
| death_place = 
| education = [[Rossall School]]
| alma_mater =  [[University of Cambridge]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Elizabeth Graham Smith||2021|end=died}}
| awards =  [[Royal Medal]] (1970)<br>[[Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize]] (1991)
| fields = [[Radio astronomy]]
| doctoral_students = [[Andrew Lyne]]<ref name=phd>{{cite thesis|last=Lyne|first=Andrew Geoffrey|title=Interferometric observations of lunar occulations and pulsars|date=1970|degree=PhD|publisher=[[University of Manchester]]| url        = https://www.librarysearch.manchester.ac.uk/permalink/44MAN_INST/1r887gn/alma992983306737101631|website=manchester.ac.uk|oclc=643375430}}</ref>
| workplaces = {{plainlist|
* [[University of Manchester]]
* [[Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory]]
}}
| module = {{Infobox officeholder|embed=yes
  | title1 = [[Astronomer Royal]]
  | order1 = 13th
  | term_start1 = 1982
  | term_end1 = 1990
  | predecessor1 = [[Martin Ryle]]
  | successor1 = [[Arnold Wolfendale]]
  }}
}}

'''Sir Francis Graham-Smith''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRS}} (25 April 1923 – 20 June 2025) was a British [[astronomer]]. He was the 13th [[Astronomer Royal]] from 1982 to 1990 and was knighted in 1986.<ref name="royalsociety">{{Cite web|title=Francis Graham-Smith {{!}} Royal Society|url=https://royalsociety.org/people/francis-graham-smith-11525/|access-date=2021-07-05|website=royalsociety.org|language=en-gb}}</ref>
<ref>[http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/SmithGraham.html Scienceworld biography]</ref><ref>[http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk/db/node.xsp?id=EAD%2FGBR%2F0180%2FRGO%20** Online catalogue of F. Graham Smith's working papers as director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (held at Cambridge University Library)]</ref>

==Early life and education==
Graham-Smith was born on 25 April 1923. He was educated at [[Rossall School]],<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-02-06|title=Sir Francis Graham Smith|url=https://www.rossall.org.uk/sir-francis-graham-smith/|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Rossall School}}</ref> and [[Downing College, Cambridge]] from 1941.<ref>{{Cite web|collaboration=rp441|date=2016-07-01|title=Sir Francis Graham-Smith|url=https://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/people/sir-francis-graham-smith|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Downing College Cambridge|language=en}}</ref>

==Career and research==
In the late 1940s, Graham-Smith worked at the [[University of Cambridge]] on the [[Long Michelson Interferometer]].

In 1964, he was appointed Professor of Radio Astronomy the [[University of Manchester]] and in 1981 director of the Nuffield Radio Astronomy Laboratories, part of the University of Manchester at [[Jodrell Bank Observatory|Jodrell Bank]]. He was also [[Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory]] from 1975 to 1981.

He appeared in Episode 13 of Series 4 of [[Treasure Hunt (British game show)|''Treasure Hunt'']] when the show visited Jodrell Bank, giving presenter [[Anneka Rice]] a piggyback to allow her to reach a clue.<ref>{{Citation|title=Treasure Hunt S04e13 @ Cheshire|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fYcItw4Cf0|language=en|access-date=2021-07-05}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead YouTube link|date=February 2022}}</ref> His doctoral students included [[Andrew Lyne]].<ref name=phd/> His published work includes

* (with J.H. Thompson): ''Optics'' (J. Wiley, 1971)<ref>[https://archive.org/details/optics0000grah_i8l5 Internet archive]</ref>
* (with [[Bernard Lovell]]): ''Pathways to the Universe'' (Cambridge, 1989)<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/us/universitypress/subjects/physics/astronomy-general/pathways-universe?format=HB&isbn=9780521320047 Cambridge University Press]</ref>
* (with Andrew Lyne): ''Pulsar Astronomy'' (Cambridge, 1990)<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/pulsar-astronomy/768C0EE45FB7A2452A6D62B1C933247A Cambridge University Press]</ref>
* (with [[Bernard F. Burke]] and  Peter N. Wilkinson): ''An Introduction to Radio Astronomy'' (Cambridge, 1997)<ref>[https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/an-introduction-to-radio-astronomy/9547F0B892F18587AC9C7D3E908924CD Cambridge University Press]</ref>
* ''Unseen Cosmos'' (Oxford, 2013)<ref>[https://global.oup.com/academic/product/unseen-cosmos-9780199660582?cc=gb&lang=en& Oxford University Press]</ref>
* ''Eyes on the Sky: A Spectrum of Telescopes'' (Oxford, 2016)<ref>[https://global.oup.com/academic/product/eyes-on-the-sky-9780198734277?cc=gb&lang=en& Oxford University Press]</ref>

== Personal life and death ==
Graham-Smith was an avid bee-keeper and kept up this hobby well into his 90s, looking after the hives at Jodrell Bank. He also inspired the creation of the [[University of St Andrews|St Andrews]] Amateur Beekeeping Society.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Neale|first=Angus|date=2018-10-11|title=Waxing Lyrical|url=http://www.thesaint.scot/2018/10/waxing-lyrical/|access-date=2021-07-05|website=The Saint|language=en-US|archive-date=9 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182842/http://www.thesaint.scot/2018/10/waxing-lyrical/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

He lived with his wife Elizabeth in the Old School House in [[Henbury, Cheshire]], from 1981 until her death in 2021. They had met when they were both working with [[Martin Ryle]] in 1945–6 in Cambridge in the early days of radio astronomy.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Lady Elizabeth Graham- Smith|url=https://www.henbury.org/news/lady-elizabeth-graham-smith.html|access-date=2021-07-05|website=www.henbury.org|language=en}}</ref>

Graham-Smith was a Patron of [[Humanists UK]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sir Francis Graham-Smith, FRS, FRAS, F Inst P|url=https://humanism.org.uk/about/our-people/patrons/sir-francis-graham-smith/|access-date=2021-07-05|website=Humanists UK|language=en}}</ref> was the President of [https://maccastrosoc.com/index.php Macclesfield Astronomical Society] and was a patron of [[Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society]].

Graham-Smith celebrated his [[Centenarian|100th birthday]] on 25 April 2023,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.manchester.ac.uk/discover/news/sir-francis/|title=Happy 100th Birthday, Sir Francis!|publisher=The University of Manchester|date=25 April 2023}}</ref> and died on 20 June 2025, at the age of 102.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sir Francis Graham-Smith FRS |url=https://royalsociety.org/people/francis-graham-smith-11525/ |website=The Royal Society |access-date=24 June 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| work=[[The Guardian]]| title=Sir Francis Graham-Smith obituary| author=Rowan-Robinson, Michael|authorlink=Michael Rowan-Robinson| date=2025-07-23| url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/jul/23/sir-francis-graham-smith-obituary| accessdate=2025-07-28}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
Graham-Smith's awards and honours include:
* elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1970<ref name="royalsociety" /> and was awarded their [[Royal Medal]] in 1987
* served as president of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] from 1975 to 1977
* served as the thirteenth [[Astronomer Royal]] from 1982 to 1990
* Awarded the [[Richard Glazebrook Medal and Prize]] in 1991

In 1965, he was invited to co-deliver the [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Royal Institution Christmas Lecture]] on ''Exploration of the Universe''.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Francis Graham Smith}}

{{Jodrell Bank Observatory}}
{{Astronomers Royal}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham-Smith, Francis}}
[[Category:1923 births]]
[[Category:2025 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century British astronomers]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Astronomers Royal]]
[[Category:Fellows of Downing College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:People educated at Rossall School]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Astronomical Society]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:British men centenarians]]
[[Category:British humanists]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]