Hertfordshire Astronomer Awarded For World-Leading Contribution
Professor James Hough, Director of the University of Hertfordshire’s Centre for Astronomy Research, has been honoured by the Royal Society of Astronomy (RAS) for his contribution to astronomy.
The RAS has just announced that it will award the Herschel Medal to Professor Hough at the 2010 National Astronomy Meeting (NAM 2010) to be held in Glasgow from 12-16 April.
The award is for Professor Hough’s world-leading contribution to astronomy in astronomical polarimetry (where scientists measure the orientation of oscillations in light and other electromagnetic waves). He is an instrument builder, observational astronomer and research leader working on specific projects and facilities for observatories including the Anglo-Australian Observatory, United Kingdom Infrared Telescope and Gemini on Hawaii.
Professor Hough’s work includes interstellar gas and dust (nebulae), the nuclei of active galaxies, young stars and extrasolar planets. He has also taken a special interest in the role astronomical polarimetry can play in the search for extraterrestrial life by using the polarimetric signal of various biological markers.
Commenting on this award, Professor Hough said: “It is a great honour for my research to be recognized by the Royal Astronomical Society in this way and it’s a particular honour to be awarded a medal associated with the name of William Herschel, one of the greatest observational astronomers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Interestingly, although born in Hanover he did much of his work in Slough, which no doubt had darker night skies then we experience now. He is also credited with the discovery of infrared radiation, and this type of radiation has been very important in my own research."
For more information, please contact Hélène Murphy, University of Hertfordshire Press Office on Tel: 01707 28 4095, Email: h.1.murphy@herts.ac.uk