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Roger Davies is the Philip Wetton Professor of Astrophysics at Oxford University and a Student of Christ Church. He is Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the Institute of Physics and was recently elected the Fellowship of University College London. Professor Davies has pioneered the use of a new class of astronomical spectrograph to measure the masses and ages of galaxies, as well as search for black holes in their nuclei. He started research working on galaxy dynamics in Cambridge in the 1970s after which he moved to California, returning to Cambridge as a JRF at Christ's College. He then spent 6 years on the staff of the US National Observatory in Tucson, Arizona. As part of the "7 Samurai'' team he worked out a new way of measuring the distances to galaxies and discovered the "Great Attractor'', a huge concentration of galaxy clusters in the southern sky. He moved to Oxford in 1988 to lead the UK's participation in the construction of the 8m Gemini telescopes, in Hawaii and Chile. In 1994 he took up the post of Professor of Astronomy at Durham University returning to Oxford in 2002. His research interests centre on cosmology and how galaxies form and evolve. He has a longstanding interest in astronomical instruments and telescopes and has pioneered the use of a new class of astronomical spectrograph to measure the masses and ages of galaxies, as well as search for black holes in their nuclei.
He served as the President of the Royal Astronomical Society from 2010-2012. Professor Davies has published over 150 papers.
# | Episode Title | Description | People | Date | |
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4 | Oxford Astrophysics | A video explaining what is Astrophysics and what's going on in Astrophysics at Oxford | Chris Lintott, Roger Davies, Jo Dunkley, katherine blundell | 22 Jul 2014 | |
3 | Creative Commons | Galaxies as a Plate of Fruit | Professor Roger Davies explains how we can learn about the different shapes of galaxies using a plate of fruit and a telescope. | Roger Davies | 05 Feb 2013 |
2 | Telescopes Now Lecture 3: The Gemini Telescopes | In the third in a series of lectures by senior astronomers about recent developments in telescopes, Professor Roger Davies talks about his work on the Gemini Telescopes. | Roger Davies | 03 Mar 2009 | |
1 | Introduction to Astrophysics | A short introduction to Astrophysics at Oxford University by Professor Roger Davies. | Roger Davies | 05 Sep 2008 |