Raymond Lyttleton
Encyclopedia
Raymond Arthur Lyttleton FRS (May 7, 1911 – May 16, 1995) was a British mathematician and theoretical astronomer
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He was born in the Oldbury, Worcestershire area and educated at King Edward VI Five Ways
school in Birmingham, going from there to Clare College, Cambridge to read mathematics, graduating in 1933. He was elected a Fellow of St John's College in 1937 and appointed a lecturer in mathematics in the same year (until 1959). He was Reader in Theoretical Astronomy from 1959 to 1969, after which he was appointed to a specially created professorship in the subject.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1955. His application citation read: "Distinguished for his work in astronomy. Author of numerous papers on the origin and early history of the Solar System, notably his modifications of the collision theory. Showed from work of Cartan that fission of a planet by rotation would give two independent bodies, and consequently that the fission theory of binary stars is untenable (The Stability of Rotating Liquid Masses, 1953). Author (with F. Hoyle) of numerous papers on the astronomical effects of accretion, and (with H. Bondi) of two on the transmission of the tidal friction couple to the Earth's core and on the behaviour of the core during precessions. Author of a striking new theory of comets. (The Comets and their Origin, 1953)
He won the Royal Society Royal Medal
in 1965 "In recognition of his distinguished contributions to astronomy, particularly for his work on the dynamical stability of galaxies."
He wrote a number of books: The Comets and Their Origin (1953), The Stability of Rotating Liquid Masses (1953), The Modern Universe {1956}, Rival Theories of Cosmology {1960}, Man's View of the Universe (1961), Mysteries of the Solar System (1968), The Earth and its Mountains (1982), The Gold Effect (1990). In 1956, he presented a 5-part television series on the B.B.C. entitled "The Modern Universe"
He had married Meave Hobden in Poole in 1939.
Astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...
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He was born in the Oldbury, Worcestershire area and educated at King Edward VI Five Ways
King Edward VI Five Ways
King Edward VI Five Ways is a selective, humanities specialist grammar school located in the Bartley Green area of south Birmingham, England. As of April 2008, the school has a second specialism, a specialist Science College.-Background:...
school in Birmingham, going from there to Clare College, Cambridge to read mathematics, graduating in 1933. He was elected a Fellow of St John's College in 1937 and appointed a lecturer in mathematics in the same year (until 1959). He was Reader in Theoretical Astronomy from 1959 to 1969, after which he was appointed to a specially created professorship in the subject.
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1955. His application citation read: "Distinguished for his work in astronomy. Author of numerous papers on the origin and early history of the Solar System, notably his modifications of the collision theory. Showed from work of Cartan that fission of a planet by rotation would give two independent bodies, and consequently that the fission theory of binary stars is untenable (The Stability of Rotating Liquid Masses, 1953). Author (with F. Hoyle) of numerous papers on the astronomical effects of accretion, and (with H. Bondi) of two on the transmission of the tidal friction couple to the Earth's core and on the behaviour of the core during precessions. Author of a striking new theory of comets. (The Comets and their Origin, 1953)
He won the Royal Society Royal Medal
Royal Medal
The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal, is a silver-gilt medal awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important contributions to the advancement of natural knowledge" and one for "distinguished contributions in the applied sciences" made within the Commonwealth of...
in 1965 "In recognition of his distinguished contributions to astronomy, particularly for his work on the dynamical stability of galaxies."
He wrote a number of books: The Comets and Their Origin (1953), The Stability of Rotating Liquid Masses (1953), The Modern Universe {1956}, Rival Theories of Cosmology {1960}, Man's View of the Universe (1961), Mysteries of the Solar System (1968), The Earth and its Mountains (1982), The Gold Effect (1990). In 1956, he presented a 5-part television series on the B.B.C. entitled "The Modern Universe"
He had married Meave Hobden in Poole in 1939.