Sir Frank Watson Dyson, KBE (1868—1939),
Ninth Astronomer Royal (1910—33)
Born: 1868 Measham, near Ashby-de-la-Zouch, England
Died: 1939
Buried: at sea in southern ocean
Astronomer Royal: 1910 - 1933
He was astronomer royal of Scotland (1905–10) and of England (from 1910). As director (1910–33) of Greenwich Observatory he greatly expanded its research activities and inaugurated (1928) the wireless transmission of Greenwich time. Noted for his study of solar eclipses, he was an authority on the spectrum of the corona and on the chromosphere; his observations of an eclipse (in Brazil, 1919) confirmed Einstein's theory of the effect of gravity on light. Dyson plotted the motions of many previously uncharted stars. A fellow of the Royal Society from 1901, he was knighted in 1915. His publications include Astronomy: A Handy Manual (1910) and Eclipses of the Sun and Moon (with Richard Woolley, 1937).
Dyson worked for the Royal Observatories (in Greenwich and Edinburgh)
throughout his life. Graduating from Trinity College Cambridge in 1889 he first
worked on problems associated with gravitational theory before becoming chief
assistant at Greenwich Observatory in 1894. His work at Greenwich included
managing the Carte du Ciel project, which in turn led him to investigate the
proper motion of stars (this work would eventually lead others to discover that
our galaxy is rotating).
He was also hugely interested in time, and was involved in setting up the 'six
pips' signal first broadcast in 1924. After the first world war Dyson was
involved in re-establishing international co-operation in science
Links
The Bruce Medallists: here
